Chapter 19:
Since I met Brittany I had learnt a lot of things. One of them was that just because you had a kid and you were the parent, didn't mean you always did what you wanted. And in this case Brittany didn't do what she wanted. To not come to the airport with me. But little Alice who had heard my voice over the phone wanted to. And so I found myself in my uncle's car, going to pick up my two favorite blondes.
If I said I was nervous, it would be an understatement. Just the fact that Brittany didn't want to go, and told me so, had me bouncing my leg up and down nervously. My uncle, who was driving his car, put his hand on my leg to stop me.
"Relax, Santanita." He told me but it didn't help me at all.
"You have to like each other." I mumbled and started biting my short nails.
"It'll be alright." He reassured me and patted my leg before going back to driving. "At least for me, her old job won't be a reason to not like her. I guarantee you that. And the same goes for your mother. But your father…" He trailed off. I understood what he wanted to say though. My father had a problem with me being a lesbian in the first place. So he most probably would have a problem with Brittany, with her having a kid and with her being a prostitute even if it was so many years ago. But I didn't think he would say anything in front of the blonde or the kid. I wouldn't let him, he had caused enough problems already.
When we arrived at Brittany's apartment building I sent her a text that we were downstairs and then got out of the car and started pacing in front of it. My uncle got out as well and came on the other side of the car to lean against it and watch me with his, at the moment, annoying smirk.
"But no, you're definitely not in love with her." He told me teasingly and I immediately glared at him. "You're just freaking out because she's meeting your family as Brittany, not as your girlfriend." He said sarcastically and chuckled. But I just clicked my tongue, continuing my pacing and not bothering to answer him.
After a few seconds of me debating what would be a better idea, just leave or call Brittany and cancel, although I was just outside her apartment, the front door of the building opened and little Alice came out running towards me. I crouched down just in time to catch her and pick her up.
"Hi Tana!" She squealed, making me smile and calm down a bit. She poked my dimples that were now showing and giggled.
"Hi Ali girl." I told her while straightening her top that had bunched up and she giggled again. I looked up to see Brittany having an eyebrow arched at me. She didn't seem to be amused at all. I left my uncle behind and went towards her. "Hi." I told her hesitantly.
"Hi!" Alice squealed again causing me to chuckle. I bit my lip and arched my eyebrows at the tall blonde.
"Hi." She told me, letting me know that she wasn't mad. Or at least she wasn't as mad as I thought she would be.
"Are you mad?" I asked her for confirmation and she shook her head.
"No." She simply said and I nodded. I looked back at my uncle and then at Brittany again.
"My uncle knows about the trial." I whispered and looked over my shoulder again to find him waving us over. I turned back to see Brittany's expressionless face staring at my uncle.
"That's why he wants to meet me?" She asked and I gulped. It made sense that she would think that but that wasn't the case.
"Actually no." I said shakily and looked away from her and at little Alice. She stuck her tongue out at me and I gasped in surprise before doing the same, causing her to giggle and Brittany to click her tongue at us. I turned back to her to see that she was looking at me expectantly. I sighed. "He wants to meet 'the person that has me and words in bad terms'." I quoted what my uncle had said earlier and rolled my eyes. I told her the truth, I didn't want her to think that's why they wanted to meet her. Brittany arched an amused eyebrow at me, causing me to blush slightly but thankfully it wasn't visible on my dark complexion. "Come on." I told her before she could say anything and turned to go back to my uncle.
"Ok." I breathed when I was in front of him. I was aware of Brittany's presence just behind me. "This is my uncle Mario." I told Alice that was in my arms and gestured towards him. "And this little monster is Alice." I said and poked the little blonde's tummy to make her giggle, effectively causing her to ruin the scary monster impression that she was trying to pull off.
"Give me five!" My uncle exclaimed and held up his hand. Little Alice immediately hi-fived him, making a loud slap noise. "Oh wow! You're the strongest little girl that I've ever met!" He gushed with wide eyes, causing Alice to giggle and me to smile. My uncle would be such a great father if he had his own kids. I knew this from the way he interacted with Alice but also from how he was with me when I was a kid too. Then Mario turned to look at me for just a second before stepping to the side and turning his attention to the blonde mother. "You must be Brittany." He told her and extended his hand. Brittany shook his hand and nodded her head but didn't say anything. "It's nice to finally put a face to the name. They say a picture is worth a thousand words but right now I can only think of one..." He trailed off and leaned closer to the blonde. "Beautiful." He breathed with his charming smile, still holding Brittany's hand. I rolled my eyes at his cheesy flirting and Brittany surprised me once more by smiling her perfect smile at my uncle.
"Well, they also say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. But thank you, that was sweet." She answered back with the same charm. She genuinely accepted the compliment, effectively making me jealous of my own uncle and maybe fall for the blonde just a little bit more. But I groaned to hide it.
"Alright. That's enough." I interrupted their flirting and broke their hands apart. My uncle smirked at me and I glared at him before looking back at Brittany. I narrowed my eyes at her but she just kept smiling at me.
"Ok, we should get going." My uncle said and clapped his hands while going to get back in the car. Brittany went to take Alice from me but the little blonde whined and tightened her arms around my neck. Brittany frowned and I arched my eyebrows at her.
"We can't put the kid in the front seat so I guess you'll have to keep flirting with my uncle." I said quietly and forced a smile. She sighed and clicked her tongue before opening the back door of the car for me and little Alice. She waited for us to get in before closing the door and going to sit in the front.
…
We spent the first ten minutes of the ride in silence. I was sitting in the middle seat with Alice straddling my legs and facing the front of the car, playing with my fingers and humming a song that I didn't know. Or maybe she was making it up. We had put the seatbelt over both of us, just like little Alice had requested, 'to be safe or mommy gets mad'. I wondered how long it would take for my uncle to start a conversation with Brittany. I was sure that he would at some point and I also was sure that Brittany wouldn't start first.
"So did you study, Brittany?" Mario asked then, as if he could read my thoughts. I decided to not be jumpy with every question he would ask. Asking someone if they had studied was pretty common.
"Yes, I did." Brittany answered. I noticed that she was calm and wasn't defensive yet. I wondered if she would get at some point, but I doubted it. She would do it from the start if she had that intention. But I frowned anyway. What was different with my uncle making her feel so comfortable? Not that I wasn't happy that she was getting along with him. "Mathematics." She added then and my uncle shook his head.
"Why would you do that to yourself?" He wondered teasingly and Brittany chuckled.
"I always liked maths. It may not seem like it but maths make you think outside the box." She said and my uncle nodded his head in understanding.
"Yeah, you're right. It doesn't seem like it." He answered and Brittany chuckled again.
"I wasn't expecting you to understand. Nobody really does." She shrugged.
"It doesn't matter what others think. The only thing that should matter is what you think." He said in a more serious tone, the double meaning was not lost on me. My uncle wasn't talking just about mathematics.
"Yeah." Brittany breathed and nodded her head, letting me know that she caught the double meaning too. I also understood that my uncle liked Brittany, otherwise he wouldn't give her any advice and he wouldn't tease her or make jokes.
"Mommy! Juice!" Alice exclaimed then. Brittany turned in her seat to face us and stared at the both of us for a few seconds, making me frown. She was doing that a lot lately. But little Alice trying to reach her brought her out of whatever she was thinking.
"What's the magic word?" Brittany asked.
"Please." Little Alice immediately said and clasped her hands under her chin, looking at her mother pleadingly. Brittany nodded and turned around to shuffle in the bag that she had down by her feet. She turned to us again and went to help her daughter drink from the plastic bottle that had juice in it but I covered her hand with my own.
"I got it." I told her quietly.
"Are you sure?" She asked me hesitantly and I smiled softly at her while nodding. "You don't have to." She told me.
"I want to." I shrugged. She swallowed thickly and nodded back at me, letting me get the bottle and help little Alice. It made me happy that she let me help her with her daughter, to me it meant more than giving juice to the kid and I was sure Brittany knew that I would help her about everything. That's why she was serious at that moment. But my uncle decided to lighten the mood again.
"You know, Santanita." He started and I groaned at the nickname. Brittany, who was still facing us, chuckled. "Alma and I would argue about things that had to do with you too, like you were our child. But we would really argue. What are you two doing?" He wondered teasingly and I huffed. Brittany looked at me questioningly and I realized that she didn't know who Alma was. "Alma is my wife." My uncle answered the silent question instead of me. He still referred to her in the present tense. "She passed away twenty-five years ago." He said and Brittany's face fell and turned to him.
"I'm sorry to hear that." She said quietly but my uncle just shrugged.
"I was too for a while but then I realized that she is looking at me from above. She's still with me, you know?" He said and Brittany nodded.
"Yeah, I know." She whispered and I frowned at her but she wasn't looking at me.
"Like right now I'm sure she's jealous because a beautiful lady is sitting right next to me. I'm sure she's writing all these things down and I'm gonna hear it soon when I'll go up there too." He said jokingly and Brittany chuckled.
"Tio!" I whined. I didn't want to think about him dying.
"Everybody dies, Santanita. That's life." He said but I didn't want to have that conversation.
"Tio?" Alice asked then, pushing the bottle away from her mouth.
"Hola niña bonita!" My uncle immediately answered and I shook my head at him. But he couldn't see me so I turned the conversation to Spanish.
"Don't talk to her in Spanish." I told him.
"Hey, it's ok." Brittany said as if she understood what I told my uncle. I looked at her frowning but she just shook her head at me, letting me know that it was really ok.
And so we spent the rest of the ride with my uncle teaching Alice to speak Spanish. She just learnt a few basic words, but it was really impressive if you consider that she was only three years old. That kid was as smart as her mother.
I was sure that my uncle liked Brittany, if you consider that he even told her about his wife. And I was sure that Brittany liked my uncle too, if you go by the fact that she laughed at his jokes and let him teach her daughter Spanish. Actually she liked him enough to make me frown because she definitely wasn't so open and comfortable with me the first time that we had met. And for a long time after that.
When we arrived little Alice decided that she wanted my uncle to hold her, so they could continue to speak Spanish together. We were walking to the arrivals and Brittany was by my side while Mario and Alice were right in front of us.
"Are you mad?" Brittany asked me and I shook my head but didn't turn to look at her. I wasn't mad,I just couldn't understand. "Are you sure?" She asked me and bumped her shoulder with mine. I rolled my eyes and turned to her.
"What's so special about him that has you being all giggly?" I wondered and gestured in front of me where my uncle was.
"Hey, first of all, I'm not giggly. I have an image to uphold." She told me seriously and I huffed at her while crossing my arms in front of my chest. "And second of all, he's your uncle." She said pointedly.
"So what?" I asked frowning and she shrugged while putting her hands in her back pockets.
"He's easy to talk to and look at him with Ali. She likes him too. You two are so alike, San. He's like you but the male version. How can I not like him?" She wondered, making a sense of relief and calmness to settle into me. "I thought you wanted us to get along?" She asked then and I immediately nodded my head.
"Yeah, I do. I just didn't expect so much liking." I shrugged and she grabbed my arms to uncross them from in front of my chest and tugged my arm towards her so she could whisper in my ear.
"I like you the most though." She whispered, her breath hitting my skin and sending shivers down my spine. I bit my bottom lip to prevent myself from smiling too big and I nodded at her. "Although being jealous really suits you, you really don't have a reason to be." She shrugged and let my arm free.
"I am not jealous." I said defensively and rolled my eyes. Yes, I am, I thought but I wouldn't tell her that. I would never admit that I was jealous of my own uncle. But she obviously knew it.
"Ok." She smiled like she didn't believe me and kissed my cheek, her touch causing my heart to skip a beat.
We reached the arrivals and waited for my parents and Matt to come out. Little Alice went to Brittany's arms when we got there. I figured Brittany wanted her there because little Alice would help her keep her composure. Not get angry and not be nervous. Brittany didn't say anything but I could understand that she started feeling uncomfortable. So I went by her side with the excuse that I wanted to tickle little Alice but the real reason was to make her feel better and let her know that I would be there no matter what. And she understood that because she smiled gratefully at me when I slid my hand on her lower back and kept it there. Just then I heard my uncle telling us that he can see them.
Both Brittany and I turned towards to where he was pointing to find Maribel leaning almost all her weight on Matt. She couldn't really use her left leg and my face fell seeing my mother limp heavily as she walked towards us. Then I saw my father looking directly at me. His face was expressionless but I could see the nervousness in his eyes. But I didn't give him any more attention, I immediately took my mother in my arms and relaxed in her motherly embrace when she hugged me back.
"You're fine." I told her pulling back and she smiled at me.
"Of course I am, mija." She said and kissed my cheek before turning to hug her brother as well. I turned to find Matt having little Alice sitting on his shoulders, her tiny hands on top of his head. But Brittany wasn't paying any attention and I found that odd. I nodded at Matt as a greeting before turning to the blonde to see that she was staring at my father and Antonio was staring back, like they couldn't remember where they knew each other from. Wait, what? But then my father narrowed his eyes at Brittany and the blonde arched her eyebrows at him challengingly. He flared his nostrils and turned to face me. I was completely confused by their interaction.
"Santana." He said, his face back to expressionless and I just nodded at him, still confused by what happened. I watched as Matt gave Alice back to her mother and turned to talk with my uncle and I turned to introduce Brittany and Alice to my parents. But I was once again beaten to it.
"You're Brittany!" My mother, who was now leaning on me, exclaimed and Brittany smiled weakly at her and nodded her head. "Come here, mija." She told her while opening her arms and I winced. Brittany swallowed thickly before allowing my mother to hug her as best as she could, considering the blonde had her daughter in her arms. Brittany closed her eyes and sucked her lips when my mother's arms went around her, her face holding a pained expression. After a few seconds they pulled back and I saw the unshed tears that Brittany had in her eyes. I frowned at her but she shook her head, still sucking her lips.
"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Lopez." Brittany said then with a shaky voice.
"Oh please." My mother said and shook her hand dismissively. "Call me Maribel. And this is Antonio." She said and gestured towards my father. They both nodded at each other stiffly, making me once again frown in confusion. They didn't even exchange any words.
"Hola!" Alice exclaimed then, causing me and my mother to chuckle. I could see the question in Maribel's eyes. She didn't know that Brittany had a kid but obviously she didn't have a problem with it. She just smiled sweetly at little Alice. Who could have a problem with such a sweet kid?
"Ali girl, this is my mom." I told her. The little blonde waved at Maribel and giggled when my mother waved back. "And that's my dad." I said and frowned when he didn't even bother to speak to the kid. "So, do you want to come here?" I asked to distract her and opened my arms. She immediately nodded her head and Brittany let me take her before going back to staring down my father.
"Are we ready to go?" My uncle asked looking around at us. My mother nodded and reached for his help and he immediately helped her. The rest of us followed them out.
…
We were sitting in my uncle's car. My father took the seat beside my uncle and I couldn't really tell what they were talking about but the conversation was definitely heated. My mother and Matt were sitting in the back seat with Alice between them. Matt wasn't really paying any attention to my mother and Alice that were continuing the Spanish lesson from earlier. Brittany and I were sitting at the very end of the eight-seated SUV that my uncle owned. We hadn't said anything and I really wanted to know what was going on between her and my father. So I finally found the courage to interrupt her staring out of the window. I grabbed her hand that was on her lap to get her attention and brought it on my lap. She turned to me and sighed.
"I'll tell you later. This isn't a good time." She said, understanding my silent question and I nodded at her skeptically. I really had no idea what she was going to tell me.
"You raised a really smart and polite girl, Brittany." My mother said then and Alice giggled as Brittany smiled gratefully at my mother, thankfully not taking her hand away from mine.
"Thank you." She said and leaned forward to kiss Alice's head that was poking from the back of the seat. "Sit properly, baby." She told her daughter and Alice pouted before sending a kiss with her hand to both Brittany and I and turning to sit properly again.
"So, how did you two meet?" Maribel asked and turned sideways so she could face us. I turned to Brittany and found her already looking back at me.
"At Sugar's." I shrugged and Brittany nodded before turning to look at my mother again.
"Randomly." She added and Maribel nodded looking between us.
"And how long are you together?" She asked causing me to wince. I hadn't told her if we were together or not so it made sense that she would assume that we were.
"I don't know. Are we together?" Brittany asked nervously, surprising me, and brought our hands from my lap to hers. I widened my eyes and swallowed thickly.
"I don't know." I mumbled. But I sure wanted us to be.
"Oh! I asked a tricky question?" My mother asked in amusement and I rolled my eyes. I could tell that she enjoyed very much watching us being nervous. But when she saw my expression she softened. "You'll figure it out." She said softly and smiled at us before turning to face forward again.
I sighed and turned to Brittany to see that she was playing with her piercing on her bottom lip and she was looking at our clasped hands on her lap. My dark and her pale skin were making a beautiful contrast that I could stare at for hours, just basking in the feeling of her soft skin against mine. But after a few seconds Brittany looked up at me and I could see the question in her beautiful blue eyes. She looked in front of us before turning back to me. She covered our clasped hands with her free hand and bit her pierced bottom lip. I thought she was going to ask me but it seemed like she changed her mind. Because she just brought my hand up to her lips and kissed each one of my knuckles, making me take a deep breath and close my eyes at the feeling, before placing it back in her lap.
"You should come over." She said and turned to look at my father who was still arguing with my uncle, silently telling me that she would tell me what was happening with the two of them. I didn't have the chance to talk to him yet but I knew if I started a conversation with him we would end up fighting. And I didn't want that to happen in front of Brittany. Something was going on between them though and I wanted to know what, so I nodded at Brittany, letting her know that I would go with her and Alice at her apartment. She nodded back and turned to stare out the window again. I sighed and turned to stare out my window too, hoping that they didn't really know each other, because it seemed like they did.
A.N.: Tell me what you think.