Chapter 18:
A.N.: I'm sorry for not updating sooner but I got sick last week and I couldn't write. Thank you for your reviews, follows and favorites. Enjoy!
I was startled from my sleep when my phone started to ring. I groaned and sat up to grab it, only to realize that I wasn't in my bed. I looked around and noticed that I was in Brittany's bedroom, effectively causing me to remember the last night. I couldn't remember the last time that I slept through the whole night. I would always wake up at some point, no matter how tired I was, and I would always feel restless. I didn't know why but with Brittany I woke up the way I fell asleep and felt more rested and refreshed than I had ever felt. But Brittany wasn't in bed with me.
I was about to get up and go find Brittany when I realized that my phone was still ringing, so I grabbed it to see that it was only six in the morning. I was about to end the call but then I saw that Maribel was calling me and I immediately answered the phone. I was afraid that something happened to my parents, considering she was calling me this early in the morning.
"Yes." I said, my voice raspy and laced with sleep. I cleared my throat and rubbed my eyes to wake up.
"Santanita!" My mother exclaimed and chuckled, effectively causing me to arch an eyebrow at her overly cheerful mood.
"Mami, what's going on?" I asked her but she didn't answer back. I could hear her talking with someone but I couldn't understand what they were saying. "Mami?" I called again.
"Si, mi amor." She replied as I leaned against the headboard.
"What's going on?" I asked her again.
"Why didn't you tell me that a tall, handsome guy would be coming at my house? He found me in my pajamas, Santanita. That's unacceptable." She said, trying to sound stern but her words weren't really helping her. She was a grown married woman and had eyes for a man that was the same age as her daughter? I ignored it though, I knew she wasn't serious. But I winced anyway because I totally forgot to tell them that Matt was going instead of me. I blamed Brittany and her ability to have my attention constantly. "Your papi hit him, you know." She chuckled then and I gasped, widening my eyes.
"He hit him?" I asked in disbelief. Although it wouldn't be such a surprise that a heavy-built, tall guy came to their house uninvited and they got scared. The last time someone went to their house my mother got shot.
"Yeah, with the baseball bat on the head." She said and my eyes widen. Oh no! That was bad. I bit my bottom lip, afraid that Brittany might get angry that I forgot to tell my parents. But she forgot too. "But don't worry, he just flinched a bit. He's so strong and did I mention handsome?" She ranted and I rolled my eyes, relieved that Matt was fine. Obviously Brittany was right, Matt would do a good job at protecting them.
"Will you stop embarrassing yourself?" I wondered and huffed. Maribel cleared her throat.
"Well, it was a nice change. There's just too much tension in this house, Santanita. I hope that Mario and Antonio don't create another tension in New York." She said and I sighed. They probably would but I didn't say anything.
"When are you coming?" I asked her.
"Probably tomorrow. The realtor will take care of the house and Matt's going to give the money and we'll be over all of this, Santanita." She told me and I nodded, although she couldn't see me. I could practically hear the tiredness in her voice. "So, tell me about Matt." She whispered then, causing me to roll my eyes again. She was probably whispering because Matt was there. If that was how she wanted to get her mind off of what was happening then I would help her.
"What do you want to know?" I asked.
"How do you know him?" She asked me and I sighed, rubbing my forehead.
"He's a friend of a friend." I mumbled. It really sounded weird calling Brittany a friend, but I didn't know what to say to Maribel. I briefly wondered where the blonde was but my mother talking caused me to focus on the phone again.
"Quinn?" My mother asked me and I shut my eyes tightly.
"No, Brittany." I mumbled but before she could ask me who Brittany was I spoke up again. "Look, I'm in a hurry. I still have to go home and get ready for work." I said quickly.
"Where are you now?" She asked me and I realized that I practically dug my own grave.
"Nowhere." I said lamely and then I groaned at my reply. What was wrong with me? I really needed some caffeine inside my system.
"Santanita." Maribel said slowly and I rolled my eyes. "Are you with Brittany?" She asked me, teasingly emphasizing the name and I groaned.
"I'm hanging up now, I'll see you tomorrow." I said quickly but before I could end the call she spoke up.
"Wait, your papi wants to talk to you." She told me and I flared my nostrils.
"I don't want to talk to him." I said stubbornly and I heard my mother sighing.
"Santanita, please." She said but I wasn't going to change my mind.
"I'll talk to him when you'll come in New York." I said with finality and my mother sighed again.
"Alright. Will you introduce me to Brittany?" She asked me then and I huffed.
"Yeah, ok. I'll see you tomorrow." I said and ended the call before she could say anything else. I was sure my mother knew that I was falling for Brittany just by this conversation and I hoped she wouldn't embarrass me when she would meet her. Because that would definitely happen at some point. I threw the phone on the bed and took a deep breath before running a hand through my hair. I couldn't get back to sleep without Brittany so I decided to get up and go find her.
I found her in the living room, lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling. Her hands were playing with an empty mug on her stomach, letting me know that she was awake for some time, and her tongue was playing with her piercing. It was peacefully quiet in the room and Brittany looked like she was thinking really hard about something. I frowned before leaning against the wall opposite the couch.
"Morning." I said quietly. I didn't want to ruin this serene atmosphere. Brittany turned her head to the side and when she saw me she sat up and put the mug on the coffee table. She sat cross legged on the couch and smiled softly at me.
"Hey, what are you doing up so early?" She asked me, her voice was quiet too.
"My mom called and woke me up." I shrugged.
"Is everything ok?" She asked me.
"My dad hit Matt with a baseball bat." I told her and bit my bottom lip but she just got up and went to the kitchen. I frowned at her. "You don't care?" I asked her and she sighed.
"Worse things happened to him." She said and shrugged while she was pouring coffee into another mug. I nodded in understanding, Matt did look like he could take a lot of hits.
"Also, my mom's flirting with him." I added rolling my eyes while she was walking towards me and sucked her lips, trying not to laugh.
"That's interesting." She said teasingly and I snorted. She gave me the mug and I smiled gratefully at her. She smiled weakly back and went to sit on the couch again, gesturing for me to sit too.
"So, why are you up so early?" I asked her while sitting beside her and she shrugged, looking away from me. She shifted and brought her feet on the couch, sitting cross legged again. I bit my lip and took a deep breath. "Was I bothering you or something?" I asked quietly and took a sip from my coffee. I didn't want that to be the case because she definitely didn't bother me and it was the best sleep I had in ages, although it was just for a few hours. But her eyes widened and she shook her head quickly.
"No, it was the opposite actually. You're really comfy." She told me and I let out a shaky breath at her admission, relaxing back on the couch. "I was just thinking." She added quietly.
"About what?" I asked and took another sip. She sighed as she turned to face me and leaned her head on her hand that was on the back of the couch.
"Do you believe in life after death?" She asked me, causing me to tilt my head to the side and narrow my eyes in thought. At the moment it seemed such a random thing to be thinking so much about but I answered anyway.
"Yes, I do." I told her honestly and she nodded at me, looking almost relieved. "Why are you asking me though?" I asked her and she shrugged.
"I wanted to know what you think about it." She told me and I frowned.
"And if I said I didn't believe in life after death what would happen?" I asked her and she sighed.
"Nothing. You can't force your beliefs on others." She said and I nodded.
"Well, what do you believe?" I asked her and she looked away from me, taking a deep breath.
"I believe that after death starts the eternal life." She said and I arched my eyebrows at what she said.
"Like in a religious way?" I asked her and she shook her head.
"It's different being religious and having faith. I'm not religious." She shrugged. "I just think that it's a human need to believe that there exists an unknown entity that we can't explain, you know? Like a God or something that causes situations we can't understand." She said. I was staring at her, trying to process what she told me. "Am I talking too much?" She asked me then and bit her bottom lip.
"No." I quickly shook my head. "I'm just thinking about what you said. I guess I've never really thought about it." I shrugged and she nodded slowly at me.
"Well, I was forced to think about it." She said and shrugged and I frowned at her.
"What do you mean?" I asked her but she shook her head.
"Nothing." She said, brushing the subject away. "Did you always want to be a lawyer?" She asked me then and I arched an eyebrow at her, still sipping my coffee. "What? I'm not allowed to learn anything about you?" She asked me and I rolled my eyes.
"You can ask me anything you want." I told her and she arched her eyebrows, leaning closer to me.
"Anything?" She asked me teasingly and I frowned.
"Yes." I said slowly.
"Anything that I want?" She asked me again and I narrowed my eyes.
"Yes." I answered again. I thought she was going to try and find the hardest question to ask me, or something that I wouldn't want to answer.
"Did you always want to be a lawyer?" She asked me instead and I rolled my eyes again. She chuckled and I shook my head at her.
"Yes, although I wasn't so focused on it in high school." I mumbled and put my empty mug on the coffee table and relaxed on the couch again.
"Why?" She asked me and I sighed.
"Because I was trying to find out why I was a lesbian." I told her and she chuckled.
"Did you need a reason?" She asked me and I shrugged.
"Yeah, I thought something was wrong with me and I was trying to figure out what it was. I was sleeping around a lot, trying to find out what I was doing wrong with all those guys. Why I didn't like having sex with them." I admitted. I looked away from her embarrassed of myself.
"Hey, I was sleeping around too." She told me, probably trying to make me not feel so embarrassed. But it definitely didn't work.
"You had a legit reason though." I said pointedly, turning to look at her again. She shrugged at me and I frowned, although I didn't know her reason yet. "I was having sex for nothing, Britt."
"I was having sex for money, San." She said with the same tone and I rolled my eyes.
"What are we trying to achieve now?" I wondered. This conversation seemed pointless to me and I felt uncomfortable even remembering all those guys that I slept with and meant nothing to me.
"I just think that sex should mean something. And if that something is understanding your sexuality then I can understand that. I mean, everybody deals with it differently." Brittany shrugged, effectively causing me to feel better about it. After all those years, I still hadn't got over how I dealt with my sexuality and Brittany with just a few words made me accept the way I chose to deal with it. But I didn't dwell too much on it, I wanted to know more about her.
"How did you deal with it?" I asked her.
"Well, it was tricky. I knew something was different but I couldn't really tell, I'd be too disgusted by both men and women because of my job to feel any kind of attraction. But I figured it out eventually when I came to New York." She answered, giving me confidence to ask her more things.
"Do you regret doing that job?" I asked her then and she stared at me, seeming like she was thinking about it.
"People might think that I found the easy way to earn money." She started and I shook my head. I definitely didn't believe that. "But there was nothing easy about doing that job. But no, I don't regret it. I can't regret it." She said and I frowned at her. "I had to take care of my sister." She added and I arched my eyebrows. But before I could ask anything she continued. "And then we moved here, with my sister, Matt and his sister."
"But your sister's really young." I finally voiced my thoughts.
"Uh yeah, she's twenty." She said hesitantly.
"So, when you moved here she was eleven?" I asked and she nodded. I frowned. "Did you move here with your whole family too or just your sister and Matt?" I asked and she swallowed thickly.
"J-just her." She said nervously and I eyed her carefully.
"Did you like…run away?" I asked again and she shook her head.
"No, no." She said and sighed. It looked like she was starting to get irritated. I could remember when I first met her, she wouldn't let me ask her so many things and she definitely wouldn't answer them. So I decided to not ask anything else.
"Well, ok." I said and looked around. "I have to get to work." I told her then and she bit her lip, looking at me intently. After a few seconds of her staring at me and not saying anything, I felt uncomfortable. "Britt?" I called her name and watched as she was brought out of her thoughts.
"I'm sorry." She told me. "I just thought that you'd figure it out by now. Like put the pieces of the puzzle together or something." She mumbled and shrugged, causing me to frown.
"No, Britt. I don't want to 'figure it out' by myself. I want you to tell me. That's what you want too, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, right." She whispered and I smiled softly at her.
"I really have to go." I said and stood up and Brittany stood too.
"Can I kiss you?" She asked me and I arched an eyebrow at her sudden shyness.
"You definitely didn't ask me last night." I told her and she rolled her eyes.
"I'm never asking again then." She shrugged and leaned down the few inches that separated us and brushed her lips softly against mine. I certainly didn't have a problem with Brittany kissing me whenever she wanted, and without asking. But as fast as she connected our lips, she disconnected them again, leaving me wanting more, like always.
I realized that it was starting to get more and more easy to have a conversation with Brittany when she didn't get angry every five minutes. I felt like I could talk to her for hours, but sometimes I was still afraid of what I might say and trigger a bomb.
…
The next day;
It was Wednesday morning and I was at my uncle's house. I took the day off because we were going to pick up my parents and Matt from the airport. I was sitting at the table in the kitchen when my uncle came in.
"So, who's Brittany?" He asked me and I choked on the coffee that I was sipping and spilled it all over me. My uncle chuckled and patted my back before sitting opposite me and I huffed. I grabbed a paper towel to clean my tank top that had now coffee stains on it but it was too late. I groaned at my ruined top and looked up to find Mario smirking at me. Why did my mother and my uncle have to have such a good relationship and share everything?
"Nobody." I said and he arched an eyebrow at me.
"What's wrong with you? You're a lawyer and your excuse is 'nobody'?" He chuckled at me and I rolled my eyes. "Who is this person who has you and words on bad terms?" He asked me and I sighed. I hadn't talk to Brittany after I left her house the day before. I only spoke with little Alice for a minute or two last night because apparently she wanted me to tell her goodnight. My heart melted when she told me that and I promised her that I would see her again soon. "Santanita?" My uncle called and brought me out of my thoughts.
"Ok, she's someone." I admitted and took another sip of my coffee to distract myself.
"Call and tell her to come with us." He said and glanced at the clock. "We still have time." He told me and I shook my head.
"No. Why would I do that?" I asked him and he frowned at me.
"Because we want to meet her. The last time we met a girlfriend of yours you were still a student." He told me and I rolled my eyes. That 'girlfriend' wasn't even my girlfriend, it was more like a friend with benefits. But they didn't need to know that.
"Well, she's not my girlfriend so…" I shrugged and bit my bottom lip. Mario arched an eyebrow at me.
"Call her." He said with finality, letting me know that he wouldn't take any of my bullshit. "And Matt's going to be there too, she'll be fine." He shrugged. "Smart move sending Matt by the way." He commented and patted my hand before grabbing my phone and giving it to me.
"I don't know." I mumbled, shuffling on my phone and heard my uncle huff.
"Do you want me to call her?" He asked me and I looked up arching an eyebrow.
"That would be the worst idea you've ever had." I told him and he snorted.
"Please, I have my way with the ladies." He told me, flashing me his charming smile.
"I have my way with the ladies." I said back and he chuckled. "But Brittany's different." I shrugged and he stared at me.
"Yeah, Maribel was right." He finally said and I frowned at him questioningly. "And she didn't even look at your face. She figured it out just by your voice." He clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"What are you talking about?" I asked him.
"About you being in love with Brittany." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"You two have no idea what you're talking about." I mumbled and he chuckled at me.
"Yeah yeah, alright." He said dismissively. "Call her." He told me again.
"I don't know, tío. She can't just leave the kid alone." I said and my uncle arched his eyebrows in surprise. Only then I realized what I said.
"She has a kid?" He asked me and I nodded hesitantly, not knowing his reaction at this information. "That's complicated." He mumbled, scratching his grey beard and I sighed.
"It's not the kid that makes it complicated." I said to myself and Mario eyed me for a few seconds.
"What about the father?" He asked me and I shrugged.
"He's not in the picture. He only has visitation rights but as far as I know he hasn't communicated with Brittany yet." I said and his eyes widened.
"Santanita." He said slowly and side-eyed me. "Is this your case about…?" He trailed off and my eyes widened too.
"H-how do you know about that?" I asked shakily and he huffed shaking his head.
"You know that I still watch trials." He said pointedly and I sighed. I knew that, I just didn't think he would know about Brittany. "This is wrong on so many levels." He said and I frowned. I was ready to defend both Brittany and myself but he started speaking again. "You can't have a relationship with a client. That's wrong." He told me.
"She's not my client anymore." I said pointedly and he sighed. "So, your problem is her being my client? Not about her old job?" I asked and he seemed to be thinking about it.
"I don't know, Santana. I don't know her. That's why you're gonna call her and ask her to come with us." He told me but I still wasn't sure.
"Look, I won't bring her just for you to decide you don't like her and judge her, ok?" I said defensively and he frowned at me.
"I wouldn't do that and you know it." He said and I sighed. "And I trust you, if you're ok with it then I don't really have any say. It's obvious you care about her and I want to meet her." He shrugged and I nodded.
"You can't tell about the case to my parents though." I said.
"They'll find out eventually." He said pointedly and I narrowed my eyes.
"Not from you." I said and he sighed while nodding his head. "And you're not gonna say anything to her either." I told him.
"I'm not a kid. Just call." He said and I nodded. I grabbed my phone to call Brittany and hoped that she would want to meet my family and not freak out about it.
A.N.: I don't want to offend anyone about that religion vs faith thing. You really can't force your beliefs on others. And what Brittany believes doesn't mean it's the right or wrong thing, it's just what she believes. Let me know what you think about this chapter.