AN: I'm exploring a new ship, Sam/Tina, since apparently they're actually quite adorable. Loved them performing '3' and it would be quite interesting if that couple actually happened on Glee. I'm exploring a couple more plots for this couple, so stay tuned!
Also, it would be awesome if you could leave a review. Just for me to gage as well how the couple is fairing. Thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.
Chapter 1
"ISN'T that one of your classmates?" asked his mom, looking with interest over his shoulder. The distinct sound of the door slamming shut could be heard in the background over the noisy chatter in the Old Family Restaurant – an Lima, Ohio favourite, next to the BreadstiX.
Sam Evans popped a fry into his mouth, made an absent sound of acknowledgement and looked over his shoulder faintly wondering who'd be here. Most of the people he knew were either already out of town for the summer or off moving to their college dormitories. He sat up and a look of recognition crossed his face as he craned his neck and spotted Tina Cohen-Chang walk into the restaurant with another young woman.
"It's Tina," Sam continued to crane his neck, chewing absently on the fry and watching the pair walk through the crowd and take a table a few tables down from them. It looked like Tina didn't catch sight of him. His gaze drifted momentarily to her form, catching sight of her side profile while sitting opposite of her companion who looked a little bit like her.
He faintly wondered what she was doing here, since he kind of knew that she usually attended Asian Camp every summer. But since she broke up with Mike a couple of months ago – he heard from Puck, who got it from Artie, who got it from Mercedes – perhaps Asian Camp wasn't her thing right now.
Sam's attention broke when he heard loud rattling noise from the side and his little brother's squeal of delight. He grinned widely watched as waiters appeared from the side, carrying a chocolate cake brightly lit by handful of colourful birthday candles. They began to sing, albeit slightly off key, Happy Birthday and Sam laughed loudly when his little brother grinned and cheered.
"Happy Birthday, Stevie!" their table erupted into applause and Sam grinned widely when he was sure that the entire restaurant joined in the singing and cheering. Across of him, his parents clapped their hands and cheered on.
"Aww, man! Cake!" Stevie cheered and watched as the chocolate cake was placed in front of him.
"Make a wish, son," Their dad said.
Sitting up, Stevie propped himself up against the sturdy wooden table and concentrated on the eight candles in front of him. He took a deep breath and blew at the candles, effectively killing all of them.
"I bet you wished for a girlfriend," Sam laughed, leaning over and giving his brother a noogie. He grinned when Stevie swatted his hand away.
"Ew, cooties!" Stevie glared at Sam, before turning back to his cake and his parents. "Thanks, guys!"
The Evans family continued with their little celebration, slicing the cake and passing around the slices. Needing to go to the bathroom, Sam stood up and excused himself not before giving his brother another noogie and laughing loudly. Manoeuvring his way through the restaurant, he slipped into the bathroom and hoped the bathroom had nice hand soap available.
Just as he was about to step out of the bathroom, Sam absently wondered if he should drop by Tina's table and say hello. As he opened the wooden bathroom door, it looked like he really didn't have to drop by her table after all.
"Sam!" Tina looked amused and surprised as she stood by the door of the girl's bathroom. It looked like she just came out as well. Or, Sam thought, she'd step into the restroom backwards – which would seem kinda weird.
"Hey, Tina," Sam grinned and closed the restroom door. They both hugged quickly, in between both bathrooms.
"Weird place to bump into you," Tina laughed, her eyes briefly looking over his shoulder and taking in the crude cartoon Male sign of a man peeing.
Sam chuckled and ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah," he looked down at the small Asian girl. He spotted somebody approaching the bathrooms and gently pulled Tina to the side, away from the doors. "Wouldn't want to hold people,"
Tina grinned. "Yeah," She looked down the hall and spotted the Evans family. "It's your brother's birthday?"
"Yeah," Sam briefly looked at his family before turning back to Tina. "My Mom and Dad decided to drop by, since it's Stevie's birthday. They'll be here for the week before going back to Kentucky,"
"Nice," Tina paused and stared at him. "And you?"
Sam scratched the back of his neck absently and shrugged. "Maybe I'll head over to Kentucky for a little while later during the summer. But mostly I'll stay here to work at Burt's shop," Sam stuffed his hands into his pockets. "You know, earn for college and all that,"
Tina blinked, feeling sorry for Sam that he had to spend summer away from his family. Kurt and Finn were also no longer at the Hummel-Hudson home, leaving the blonde with Burt and Carole, who on occasion were in DC. "Well, I'm around," she grinned, looking up at him.
Sam looked at her, confused. "Huh?"
"Sorry," Tina shook her head and laughed. "I figured that you got nobody to hang out with. Kurt and Finn are off to college and boot camp. Puck's leaving for LA soon, I'm sure," She paused for a moment, thinking, before continuing. "And Mike's in Chicago." Tina blinked and swallowed, before smiling slightly.
Sam felt a little awkward at the mention of Mike, not really sure about the whole breakup thing. But he still smiled down at her. "We should hangout then,"
Tina laughed. "Sure," She turned, slowly leading them back into the dining area. "As long as you don't make work at the shop,"
Sam laughed and waved at her as she headed back to her table. "Wouldn't dream of it,"
Tina grinned and hurried back to her table that she shared with her sister, Michelle. The older woman eyed her curiously. "What?"
Michelle grinned, and looked over Tina's shoulder, spotting the blonde down the room. "Who's the Macauley Culkin lookalike?"
Tina laughed and shook her head. "Mich!" she took a sip from her soda and chuckled when she saw her sister's amused gaze. "That's mean,"
"He's cute," Michelle remarked, ignoring Tina's comment and flicking her straight black her over her shoulder. She smirked at her little sister.
"He's Sam, from our glee club," informed Tina. She quickly looked over her shoulder just to check if the Evans family was still there before turning back to her sister. "His family is in town for a while,"
"Oh, right. He's the kid you talked about. The guy who stays with the Hummel's. Right," Michelle leaned back in her seat, finally remembering Sam from Tina's Skype conversations. "Nice kid,"
"Yeah," Tina agreed. They continued talking about their summer plans, with Michelle staying with the family for a couple of weeks while school's on a break. The older Cohen-Chang sister promised to stay with the family for a few weeks before her final year of college would start and head back to California to prepare for school.
Michelle was about to continue talking to Tina about her roommate, when they heard the band setup up on the small stage in the restaurant's corner. Michelle immediately perked up. "Sing!"
Tina blinked and chewed on her pizza. "Whu?" she mumbled through a mouthful.
"Join the band, sing something!" Michelle swatted Tina's hand away as she made a grab for another slice. "I demand. I just got back and I want to hear my baby sister sing,"
Tina rolled her eyes and ignored her sister, purposely picking up another slice of pizza and biting into it. "You're crazy," she said in between chews. "You've been here for over a week already,"
"Not the point." Michelle rolled her eyes. "Point is, band's setting up. Some band members are cute. Plus, cute Culkin kid is looking interested at the band. And you're single. And I want to hear you sing,"
Tina looked a bit uncomfortable at the mention of being single but tried to cover it up by chewing on her pizza. Looking over at the band, she recognized a few from McKinley's band club. She thought it over. Plus, it's been a while since she actually sang – and if she wanted to lead in Glee Club once school's up, maybe taking center stage wouldn't be so bad.
The band picked up a slow rock song before jamming through Marry You by Bruno Mars. Tina smiled, remembering the crazy Hummel-Hudson wedding march. The band later picked up a The Wanted song, earning a few cheers from the crowd. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Sam bobbing his head in tune of Glad You Came.
"C'mon!" Michelle grabbed Tina's wrist and pulled her roughly out of her chair, making her stumble and stand up. The older sister laughed brightly and pushed her towards the stage.
"Crazy sister!" Tina giggled and shook her head, before moving her way around tables and towards the corner and closer to the stage. It was just an acoustic band and the guitar riffs filled her ears. Just as the band wound down with an acoustic version of Justin Bieber's Baby, Tina waved at David, one of the band members.
"Tina!" Stacey looked over her chair, spotting the familiar Asian girl talk to one of the guitarists on the tiny stage. Stacey and Stevie both met Tina a couple of times when the girls of the Glee club would babysit them last year.
Sam looked up from his conversation with his parents and watched in mild surprise as Tina stepped up on stage and took a seat on the high stool in between the two guitarists. He grinned excitedly, wondering what she would be singing. He never heard her do an acoustic performance, but he was sure she'd sound awesome. Sam faintly wondered why she only sung melody in Glee club.
"Call me maybe," Tina laughed into the microphone, after whispering to the band. She giggled when there were a few cheers in favour for this summer's hit song. "Happy birthday, Stevie Evans!"
"Yey!" Stevie clapped loudly. "Awesome,"
Sam had to agree, as he watched Tina fidget up on stage and smile shyly at the crowd yet look around excitedly. He was beginning to silently wonder how awesome Tina was (since it took a lot of being badass to just step up to the band and perform) – and why they never really hung out before? Didn't she just say that they could hang out this summer? Cool.
There was a loud hoot coming from the bar ("Call me, baby!") and Tina laughed, adjusted her place on the stool and nervously smoothed down the front of her jean cutoff shorts. She could faintly hear the adrenaline – or was it her heart? – pumping in her ears over the strumming of the guitar next to her. Her gaze switched to Sam down in the back of the room and he gave her a thumbsup sign. She smiled.
"You ready?" she asked the guitarists, both grinned and nodded.
Adjusting the mic stand in front of her, both guitars jumped into an upbeat acoustic version of the hit song and Tina smiled as she bobbed her head to the beat, immediately getting lost in the song. Finding her timing, she quickly jumped into the song, earning loud cheers from the crowd.
Tina laughed when she slipped into the last stanza and the guys stopped playing the guitar and led the crowd by clapping to the beat. She quickly joined in and tapped her left hand to her thigh.
Rounding to a close, the group resumed with their guitar and Tina ended the song. She blushed and giggled when the crowd clapped in appreciation and some hoots could be heard from the back. Squinting, she saw Sam hoot again.
"Totally awesome," the curly haired guitarist gave her a high-five. "You must sing with us again,"
Tina laughed and gave David a high-five before jumping off stage. "Sure," she grinned and waved at them.
"I'm so buying your album," Michelle teased, when Tina slipped into her chair out of breath and blushing madly as she got another round of praise by some dinners near their table.
"Shut up, you,"
"Seriously," Michelle grinned before stealing some fries from Tina's plate and ignoring her protest. "That was so awesome. And, a lot of guys here thought so too,"
Tina rolled her eyes. "Quit it with the guys comment,"
"Whatever," Michelle grinned. She slyly looked over Tina's shoulder and caught Sam staring at their table. "Well, Culkin taught it was awesome,"
"What?" Tina looked surprised and quickly looked over her shoulder. Her eyes widened slightly, catching Sam staring at her and their eyes connected briefly. She felt heat rise in her cheeks and she gave him a small wave as he offered her a huge grin and two thumbs up sign, mouthing 'awesome' at her. She blushed, before turning back to her sister.
"Told ya," Michelle stole a couple more fries from Tina's plate.
"You're crazy, you know." Tina said, though smiling in amusement. "College is driving you crazy,"
Both girls looked at each other before dissolving into a fit of giggles. They quickly resumed talking, catching up on each other's lives and plans for the next weeks. As the evening went on, the sisters continued talking about their plans, briefly touching Tina's failed relationship with Mike (she promises that they were still friends), and Michelle's boyfriend, before finally calling it a night.
Paying for their dinner, the sisters stood up (only to be stopped briefly by some other customers who praised Tina for her song number earlier) and walked towards the restaurant's doors. On their way out, Tina stopped at the Evans table, surprised to find them still there.
"Hi," Tina waved at the family. She grinned at Stevie and bent down, "Happy Birthday, little man,"
"I'm not little!" Stevie grinned and hugged her back from where he sat. "And totally awesome song!"
"My favourite!" Stacey clapped her hands and she giggled when Tina hugged her as well. "The best,"
"Great number," Sam complimented, grinning widely at Tina. Both of his parents quickly agreed as well.
Tina laughed and ruffled Stevie's hair, much to his protest. "Thanks, guys." Tina turned to her sister, who smiled warmly at the group. She tugged her sister's elbow and pulled her closer, causing them to bump hips together. "This is my sister, Michelle. She's here for a couple of weeks before she heads back to UCLA,"
"Nice to meet you," Michelle waved at the group, smiling brightly.
"Man, you two look alike," commented Sam.
Michelle laughed. "I'm just the taller one," and as emphasis, placed her left elbow on Tina's shoulder and leaned on her. "Really tall,"
"Sure," Tina nudged her sister playfully and they both smiled at each other. "It was nice seeing you all tonight but we have got to head on home,"
"Please send our regards to your parents, Tina," Mrs. Evans smiled warmly.
"Will do, Mrs. Evans," Tina smiled brightly. She turned to Sam and grinned. "I'll see you around, Sam,"
"Sure,"
Tina waved one more time before tugging her sister towards the door. But Michelle grinned and turned to the Evans family one more time, smiling brightly. "Hey, Stevie, right?" the boy nodded. "My friends and I from High School are running a sports clinic for kids this weekend, maybe you and your sister want to join us? Call it a late birthday present,"
"Yeah, I want!" Stevie sat up straight in his seat and looked excitedly at Michelle. "That would be so cool, can I Mom, Dad?"
"It's a free clinic. My friends and I used to play a couple of games when we were in High School," supplied Michelle.
"Sure, sounds like fun," Mr. Evans shrugged and smiled at his son. "That will get them to make use of all that stored energy. Better out in field than at home,"
"Great!" Michelle smiled. "Sam can be our waterboy too,"
Sam shook his head and chuckled, clearly amused. "Okay," He looked up at the two Cohen-Chang siblings and began to reconsider that perhaps his summer won't be as boring as he thought it would be.
