santana and brittany

broadway

Santana's Point of View

"All right, where is she? Kurt called me in the cab, told me what was up." I say as I step into Rachel's apartment, which is filled with other people like Tina, Mercedes, Sam, and Sue

"She's been in there for hours." Tina says, "We don't know how she's peeing."

"Okay," I say as I drop my purse on the couch, "Give me four minutes."

"I will return with Grey Poupon." Sue says as she walks past me and out the door

"What?" I ask quietly

In this apartment, the rooms are separated by curtains. I open Rachel's and see her in bed with the blanket pulled over her mouth. For once, she's quiet.

She looks at me and then back up at the ceiling, "You're the best they could do?"

"Hells, yes," I answer and I close the curtains to give us 'privacy', "Because I am the closer. And in two minutes, you are gonna be out of this bed ready to fistfight the Taliban and offering to buy me a diamond necklace."

Rachel brings the blanket down to her chest, "No pep talks or anything are gonna work right now. Honestly. Okay? I've never felt like this before in my entire life," Rachel sits up and leans her back against the wall, "I never thought in a hundred year that I'd be too afraid to perform, but it's, like, these people and all this stuff is just, like, in my head. And now I don't even know what's really anymore."

"Okay, okay."

"It's, like, I am all of my insecurities."

"Seriously..."

"Every single one."

"I don't do...I don't do pep talks. If you want a pep talk, you should call Mr. Shue or rent The Notebook." I say and Rachel looks down at the floor in defeat, "I took the liberties of looking up some reviews on my phone in the cab..."

"No, no, look, look, seriously, uh, one...hundred good reviews..."

"Uh, she is 'an ancient Hittite princess.' She's a 'freak.'" I sit down on the edge of her bed and cross my legs, "Her hands are 'frightening more than amusing,' and 'her movements are wildly bizarre."

"Those are awful." Rachel says

"They were also written in 1964... about Barbra Streisand when she played Fanny."

Rachel nods her head, "I see what you did there."

"You suck at so many things...but not at this. And...the thing is, is that you don't even have to believe me or yourself — all you have to do is get on that stage and open your mouth." I shrug my shoulders and grin, "You can't do this badly; you don't actually have it in you. You and I only have two speeds: awesome or not at all." I laugh and Rachel nods her head, "Who gives a crap what all the other peasants think?"

Rachel looks and me and then at the floor, thinking about what I just told her.

I stand up and sigh, "I can't...stand you 90% percent of the time, but even I know that if you drag your flat little ass out on the stage tonight you're gonna murder that crowd."

I walk out of her room and see that Brittany is now here. She's standing in between Kurt and Tina eating a strawberry from an edible arrangement.

Thing between me and her have been shaky. She started her new job two weeks ago and I barely see her. She goes out with some of the other instructors and doesn't come home until one in the morning. She spends her weekend in the gym, and I would join if her I wasn't worried about chipping a nail.