Summary: A series of one shots, revealing what really happened during those Summer Nights. Taken from the lyrics sung during "Yes/No"
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee. If I did, I would be a lot less frustrated watching it.
...Happened So Fast
Mercedes' pace quickened as she walked from her car through the lot. It was almost 10 o'clock at night and the poorly lit motel parking lot was beginning to make her nervous. It was the first time she had ever walked it alone.
With one hand gripping a well-worn blue and red baseball cap, she gently knocked on the motel door while glancing frantically behind her, still on edge.
Thankfully it took Sam less than five seconds to make his away across the tiny motel room, and she was greeted with a confused smile.
"What are you doing here?" Sam questioned, his smile seemingly incapable of leaving his face.
"You left this in my car last night," Mercedes answered as she held out his dingy cap. "I didn't know if you needed it for work tomorrow."
"Oh yeah, I do. Thanks," Sam finished, followed by a slightly awkward silence after he tossed it on a chair next to the door.
The two had been spending a lot of time together since Prom. Sometimes studying for their upcoming finals, but mostly just hanging out.
They had known each other for a good part of the year and had occasional interaction, but up until three weeks ago at Prom, neither could recall a single conversation that had anything to do with something non-glee club related.
Therefore, their friendship seemed to come out of nowhere and it had turned into a surprisingly strong one in a short amount of time.
Mercedes would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about Sam in a romantical sense, but she knew better.
She told herself too many times that she wouldn't let friendly attention by a cute boy be inaccurately taken as romantic interest ever again. She didn't need another Kurt fiasco.
At least this boy had practically no expensive possessions she could destroy if all hell broke loose again.
"I would invite you in but Stevie and Stacey just fell asleep."
"Are your parents not home?" Mercedes asked. Usually he would only invite her in if they were out, so using Stevie and Stacey as an excuse seemed odd at 10 o'clock at night.
"No, actually they're not. They drove down to Salem earlier today for a job interview. They should be back by midnight," Sam clarifies.
"Oh wow, Salem. That seems a little far of a commute to McKinley High," Mercedes added, with a touch of disappointment evident in her voice.
"I don't think I'll have to worry about that. They didn't seem too promising. I appreciate the concern though," Sam smirked as he closed the motel room door behind him and rested his forearms on the porch railing.
A slightly embarrassed Mercedes moved to stand next to him, mimicking his position on the railing as she spoke, "Just thinking about numbers. You know, we need 12 members to compete in competitions."
Sam let out throaty laugh as his right arm moved to rest his elbow on Mercedes' shoulder, "Well New Directions is very lucky to have someone so dedicated," his voice dropped down an octave as his head turned closer to her ear.
If Mercedes was as naïve as she sometimes let herself be, she would be convinced that Sam was flirting with her. In fact, several moments over the last few weeks could have easily been placed in the "flirting" category.
That damn line kept getting blurrier every time she saw him. The line she at first saw so clearly and vowed never to cross.
All of these flirty and unsure touches were getting to her and clouding her judgment.
But Mercedes knew better, so she suppressed those obnoxious butterflies in her stomach and mumbled something about her overall concern for every glee club member.
"Right," Sam responded with pursed lips as his arm dropped back down to the railing.
"Well I should probably get going," Mercedes started. "I just wanted to make sure you had that for work tomorrow." She smiled, slowly backing away from the Sam.
"Yeah, I'll uh," Sam struggled as his brain searched for words to make her stay. "I'll walk you," he finished lamely, kicking himself for having nothing else to offer her.
"What about Stevie and—," Mercedes began to protest.
"They're not going anywhere," smirked Sam.
"Well it's not like this is the safest place …" Mercedes looked down, worried that she may have offended him.
"Is this supposed to convince me not to walk you? Cuz if so, your persuasion skills need some serious work," he joked, placing his hand on her back, guiding her into step with him.
The burning sensation on her back where Sam's hand had been got suddenly cold as soon as his arm dropped back to his side, and Mercedes mindlessly leaned into him for warmth.
It was barely summer, so the late night breeze caused Mercedes to shudder. It was either that or Sam's hand brushing the back of hers as they walked close together. She opted not to take the time to figure out which one it was.
Her thoughts were shoved out of her mind and replaced by panic as she felt Sam's fingers intertwine with hers.
Sam felt her whole body tense as she sucked in air, and as quickly as he had grabbed it, he let go of her hand in embarrassment. "Sorry," he mumbles. "Impulse," he added, as if that were a completely normal and justifiable reason to grab her hand. "I'm working on fixing those."
"No, it's okay," Mercedes quickly responded. "I just wasn't expecting that, I guess with, uh, you know, those types of things usually imply things and those implications are not what someone like you should imply to someone who is very perceptive of…implications."
Sam's shot her an amused look that almost overshadowed his embarrassment.
"I was just surprised," Mercedes concluded, unable to meet Sam's confused gaze.
"What kind of implications are you talking about?"
"What?" Was he really asking her that?
"Implications. You said that I was implying something that I shouldn't imply," explained Sam. "So…what did I imply that I shouldn't have?"
"You know, the word imply hardly even sounds like a word anymore," Mercedes joked, attempting to ease the suddenly thick tension between them.
"Mercedes…" Sam's voice was low again, which made Mercedes' heart beat so loud in her ears she swore he could hear it.
"Just that there's more between us than there really is. It implies feelings that you don't have. You just need to be careful…" she warned, dropping her gaze to Sam's shoes.
He apparently had no idea of the affect he had on people, especially her. Or at least had no idea until now.
"How do you know those feelings aren't there?" asked Sam, frustration evident in his tone.
"Sam, stop."
"What, do you think I'm not smart enough to imply something? I'm not stupid—"
"I know you're not stupid, Sam," Mercedes interrupted. "You just can't—"
"For Christ's sake Mercedes, stop telling me what to do!" Sam yelled, cutting her off.
Silence buzzed in their ears as their eyes locked on each other, neither pair faltering.
Sam took a deep breath before continuing in much calmer tone, "Listen, I like you. A lot. And I know that I freaked you out earlier and I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I know that you don't feel the same and that's fine, I just wanted to be honest with you. I hope this doesn't make it weird between us because I still want to hang out with you. At least until after I pass my finals."
Sam gave a weak smile that vanished as soon as he took one look at her terrified face. "Joke. That was a joke. I'm not just using you to help me with finals."
Sam let out a humorous laugh as he began to rock back and forth on his heels, looking everywhere but at Mercedes. "I realize now that this is not the best time to make jokes. Okay, so, uh, sorry again, and I'll see you on Monday." Sam finished, suddenly eager to run and hide in a corner.
The second he turned away from her, Mercedes snapped back to reality. All of this was overwhelmingly confusing and terrifying. But it was actually happening.
"Sam, wait!" Mercedes shouted and although he was at least halfway across the parking lot, she could see his shoulders tense before he turned around to see that she had almost caught up to him.
"Sorry about my burst of silence back there, you just caught me off guard," Mercedes attempts a smile but Sam's stoic face isn't making it any easier. "I really do like you Sam, but don't you think this is all happening a little too fast?"
"Maybe a little…" Sam took a tentative step forward and once again intertwined their fingers, this time with more caution. "It just feels so right with you though."
There was no hope in calming the butterflies in Mercedes' stomach after that. "Yeah, it does." She smiled shyly as she squeezed his hand and he took another step forward. "But nothing can happen between us now."
"Give me one reason why," Sam offered, slightly annoyed.
"Because, we just can't! We just started having actual conversations; we can't just screw that up because we think we may or may not feel something for each other. And, God, can you imagine what everyone in glee would say? Absolutely not, we cannot do this," Mercedes firmly stated and released her hold on Sam's hands as he rolled his eyes.
"First of all, may or may not? I never said I was unsure. I know what I'm feeling and I know that it's real so please don't try and cheapen that. And second of all, really? You are honestly so concerned about how a glee club will react to our relationship, that you aren't even willing to try?"
Mercedes felt her face get hot as she realized how stupid she had sounded.
"I mean, if you really are unsure about how you feel about me then that would be good to know," continued Sam. "Because you're really not giving me much to work with here."
"I'm not unsure…I'm just confused," Mercedes explained, still unable to force herself to face Sam's unfaltering heavy gaze.
"Well maybe I can help clarify some things for you," Sam trailed off, closing the space between them as he leaned down and softly skimmed his lips over Mercedes' slightly parted ones before suddenly pulling back as he began to second guess himself. "Wait, you meant you're not unsure, like you know you do have feelings for me, or you're sure you don't?" Sam's words spilled out so fast it was all Mercedes could do to suppress her grin as Sam's forehead wrinkled in panic.
"Sam," she started, gripping her hands on his jacket while taking a small step backward. "I know how I feel…I just want to take things slow. I'm not like you, I don't do this often."
Sam managed a smirk after her words boosted his confidence, "Did you just call me a man slut? I feel like I should be offended right now."
Mercedes giggled as she dropped her hands back to her sides, "You know what I mean. So…can we do that? Take it slow, I mean?" She looked up at Sam with a hopeful yet nervous expression.
"I suppose I could do that. I mean it's going to be quite the opposite of my slutty nature but I think I can handle it," Sam joked as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Do I still get to kiss you?" he questioned as Mercedes started to back away from him.
"We're taking it slow, Sam," she reminded him, turning her back and walking towards her car.
"Yeah, slow, not reverse!" Sam shouted.
"Goodnight, Sam," Mercedes playfully called over her shoulder before getting into her car.
Sam watched her drive away until he could no longer see her tail lights and began to slowly saunter back to his motel room with a grin on his face.
He may have lost a lot this year, but he knew this was going to be a fun summer.
A/N: I know it's a cheesy idea, so I'm not sure if I will continue with this. Let me know what you think!