Part I
Mercedes felt her phone vibrate with a text in her pocket as she placed her Calculus book into her locker.
"Been thinking about you all afternoon and I can't stop smiling."
She sighed and grabbed her backpack before slamming her locker shut. She watched Marcus slowly approach from down the hall.
"Hi there," she smiled at him.
"Hey gorgeous," he beamed back and pulled her into a hug, "How was math?"
"Boring as hell, but it's Friday. Walk me to Glee Club?"
"Of course," he said as she linked her arm through his and they began walking down the hall. "You still coming to my Auntie's party tomorrow?" he asked slightly nervously.
"Yeah, I'll be there," she answered, squeezing his arm, "3 o'clock right?"
He nodded and turned to face her as they reached the choir room door. It was propped open and Mercedes could tell by the noise level that most of the club was already inside. She smiled up at Marcus for a moment as he breathed out anxiously.
She leaned up to kiss his cheek softly, and, leaving her hands on his shoulders, told him, "Don't be nervous. I'm sure it will go well. I'm excited!"
"Thanks. I'm really glad you're coming," he replied, "Now get in there and show that Rachel biddy who's getting the solos this year!"
She just grinned knowingly at him and entered the room, turning to wave before she took a seat in the first row.
"Well, look at you two! Seems to be moving along nicely," Rachel immediately gushed behind her. Mercedes didn't respond.
Santana chimed in, "Who knew there was such a big hunk of chocolate hiding in the Titan's offensive line? It's a good thing I'm off boys, Mercy, or I might be mixing up some caramel cocoa." There was snickering around the room.
"Everyone, just stop," Mercedes rolled her eyes.
Puck and Lauren made their way into the choir room, completing the club's roster.
"Hey Mama," Puck called out as he climbed into the back row of chairs, fingers linked with Lauren's, "I saw Marcus on his way out. I hear you're meeting his family tomorrow."
Lauren sat down next to him and added, "I hope he's paying you back with the good lovin'."
The muffled laughter resumed then Puck continued, basically announcing to the entire club, "I've heard reports of three separate Breadstix dates in the last few weeks," he paused dramatically, "That's serious. The 'stix means love."
"Ya'll need to mind your own damn business," Mercedes proclaimed loudly, turning around to make eye contact with the main instigators. Her eyes fell on Kurt whom she realized was uncharacteristically quiet. He shot her a suspicious glare just as Mr. Schuester entered the room to begin rehearsal.
As they walked through the choreography for "Under Pressure," Mercedes ended up positioned next to her best friend. She was grateful for this, feeling like they barely spent time together anymore. He was with Blaine every chance he got and Mercedes did spend a lot of time with Marcus. Rehearsal halted and everyone waited while Mike went over a moderately tricky dance step with Finn for the ten thousandth time.
"Can you believe we're doing another Queen song? I was sure we had exhausted their catalog," Mercedes joked to Kurt but he replied with another incredulous glare just as her phone vibrated in her back pocket. She read it quickly.
"Call me later, pretty girl?"
Mercedes kept her chin tucked into her chest but smiled widely quickly typing back, "Of course." When she lifted her head up, she realized Kurt had been watching her every move. His gaze was intensified.
"I don't know what's going on with you, Mercedes Jones," he began at a decibel slightly above whisper, "but I know there is something going on with you."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she told him, turning towards the circle that had formed around Finn after Mr. Schuester took over the choreography lesson.
"Listen, Finn," the teacher said authoritatively, "Since Sam transferred, we need you to be able to own this male lead role more than ever and that means getting this dancing down."
Mercedes watched Finn nod, clearly embarrassed, and then she turned back to Kurt who now had his arms crossed over his chest.
"Mercedes," he said to her. "I know everyone is just captivated by this thing between you and Marcus but I know you. And I don't see it. The way you look at him. Hell, the way he looks at you... Something's not there."
Mercedes' eyes widened in surprise and confusion.
"He's not your type. At all..." Kurt raised his hand to stop her before she could speak, adding, "Don't pretend like I don't know what kind of guys you go for." She blinked slowly, as Kurt went on, "I don't know what this is, but I just hope you're not settling. Because you deserve a guy who not only worships you but who you're crazy about."
"Kurt..." she started to respond, but Mr. Schue clapped loudly to direct people back into formation.
Kurt quietly finished his thought, "I know that you two have some sort of connection, but I don't think Marcus is 'the one' for you."
She didn't say anything, just hugged him quickly before Mr. Schue started the number from the top.
After rehearsal, Mercedes had not even pulled out of the school parking lot before she dialed her Blackberry and set it to speaker phone.
A deep voice greeted her, "Hi, Baby."
"Hi..." She purred girlishly, pausing for a second just to savor his velvety tone before she remembered the urgent issue at hand, "Kurt's onto us."
"You know what I was just thinking about? Remember that time I made you put on your Frank-N-Furter costume for me and then your dad walked in and-"
"Sam! This is serious! He's going to figure everything out!"
"What did he say?"
"He said he knows Marcus 'isn't my type' and he doesn't think I'm 'all that into him.'"
"You do have that notorious weakness for blondes..."
There was a shrieking whistle and then "Evans!" Mercedes could clearly hear an angry-sounding man in the background, "Get your ass on the field!"
"Sorry, Mercy," Sam said quickly, "I'm late for football practice. I'll talk to later, okay?"
"Sure," she breathed, "Be safe out there."
After dinner with her parents and a couple hours of homework, Mercedes laid across the top of her bed, trying to figure out how the hell her life got here. This wasn't the senior year she saw coming. She was dating the most amazing boy she knew and everyone thought it was Marcus.
The truth is that Sam introduced Mercedes to Marcus months ago. When he first started at McKinley, Marcus had been the first guy on the football team to reach out and befriend Sam. Marcus was a quiet guy in school, very different from his take-no-prisoners attitude on the Titan's offensive line.
Throughout the drama with Quinn and Santana, he had Sam's back and they spent a lot of time in Marcus' driveway playing basketball. Marcus was always around but never really got invested or involved in the relationship frenzy that pulsed through McKinley's halls. Maybe that was why he seemed to fade into the background most of the time. But Sam really liked him. He was a good guy and he never minded that Sam was into things like comics and sci-fi.
When Sam's family lost their house, Marcus was actually the first person Sam told. Marcus ended up getting Sam a job delivering pizzas for the Domino's where he worked part-time and swore to keep the whole situation under wraps, which he did.
One night in early spring, Sam and Marcus were the last two people left at the restaurant. As they were finishing the clean-up process, Marcus stopped Sam in his tracks, like a boulder in his path.
"Sam," he said to him, "You know how I'm keeping this big secret for you and your family?"
"Uh, yeah..." Sam answered, not sure where he was going with this.
"Well, I was wondering if I could tell you a secret. It's something I haven't told anyone but I feel like I can trust you with it and I want to tell you," Marcus said.
"Sure, buddy" Sam responded with a smile, "What is it?"
Marcus looked him in the eyes for about three seconds and said, "I'm gay."
Admittedly surprised but not uncomfortable or offended, Sam just smiled and resumed wiping off the counter next to them, "Thanks for telling me, man."
When Sam started dating Mercedes in May, he introduced her to Marcus right away. He knew that Marcus would take their covert relationship to the grave, if necessary.
Mercedes would always remember the conversation they had in the car on the way to meet Marcus that first time:
"I can't believe I've never really talked to Marcus. He's been in my grade for all these years but I don't see him around much outside of the occasional class," she told Sam.
"Yeah, he's pretty quiet," Sam explained, "But you'll like him. He's a great guy. One of my best friends in Lima."
"Did Quinn and Santana know him?" Mercedes asked.
"Nah, not really," he said, his hands grasping the wheel of his dad's old pick-up, "I was always worried about what they'd say to him and I think, deep down, I was worried about what he'd think of me for dating them."
"But I'm different?" she asked timidly.
Sam took his eyes off the road for just a moment to look at his girlfriend in the passenger seat, "Yes," he whispered.
Mercedes and Marcus became fast friends. He had a gentleness about him that reminded her of what she loved in Sam and she could see why their friendship was so natural.
They discovered that they had a lot of family friends in common. Lima's African-American community was pretty tight-knit and both of their families were devout Christians, though they went to different churches.
One Saturday evening, about a month after Nationals, Sam, Mercedes, and Marcus were hanging out in his driveway while the boys shot hoops. Suddenly and in the middle of a conversation, Marcus came out to Mercedes. She hugged him for what had to have been five minutes. Sam let them have a moment, taking the time to work on his jump-shot.
"Who knows?" she eventually whispered to Marcus.
"Just Sam," he smiled as he gestured to her boyfriend who grinned at Mercedes, obviously happy to not have to keep this secret from her any longer.
When Sam ran inside to grab some sodas, Mercedes and Marcus sat on the open hatch of Sam's truck and swung their legs over the side. She asked him why it was that he chose to come out to Sam before anyone else.
Marcus told her, without a hint of pretense, "Sam is the most open-hearted person I know." He knew that Sam would never use the secret to hurt Marcus or let him anyone else hurt him. Then Marcus told her, "Maybe this is selfish of me, but I know that I have some hard times ahead and that Sam will always have my back."
She smiled, grabbed Marcus' hand, giving it a little squeeze, and told him, "If you ever need anything, I'm here for you, too. He's not the only one with your back. Sam and I will always be here for you."
Looking back, she could almost laugh at that choice of words because the next day, Sam's parents broke the news to him that his mother got a job offer at her old company in Nashville. They were moving back.
Sam and Mercedes had about 3 weeks to say goodbye, which certainly wasn't enough but was better than a week or a day or an hour. Mercedes tried to spend every moment that she could soaking up his touch. She knew he could love her from Tennessee, but he couldn't hold her.
Her parents let Sam stay over sometimes during those last days. Well, they let him stay in a tent in the backyard. Sam would show up with his old sleeping bag and set up the tent while Mercedes lit a solitary citronella candle. They would sit out on the lawn of her backyard for hours. Most nights they would end up nestled together in the sleeping bag, singing or kissing or just looking at up at the stars. Eventually, Mercedes' dad would turn on the back porch light, signaling her to come inside and go to bed. Sam would walk her to the back door and kiss her like this was it. Like this was goodbye.
Maybe these practice goodbyes made the real one possible. Maybe the rehearsals made it possible for her to watch him drive away that rainy morning in the end of August. It wasn't easy, but they got through it because they both knew that like all the others, this wasn't their last goodbye.
And suddenly it was a month later. Mercedes was wrapped up in this tangled web a deception with the boy who needed her help and the boy who had her heart.
Thanks to all the modern methods of communication young people utilized, Sam and Mercedes found a way to be in nearly continuous contact. They texted each other constantly. Sometimes, Mercedes was amazed that no one caught on. She was amazed but not shocked. Before Sam left, they would sneak away during Glee outings. They probably spent half of the New York trip in a housekeeping closet down the hall from their hotel rooms. But no one ever noticed a thing. One day, Sam pointed out that maybe the insane Glee drama that he and Mercedes were trying to stay away from was what kept the others from catching onto their secret.
Sam, Mercedes, and Marcus built up this elaborate house of cards and every day she woke up completely anxious about it falling down. But then she would get a text or an email or a world-famous Sammy singing voicemail as he, without even trying, made it all okay again by loving her so fearlessly.
Love. In high school. What a concept. They hadn't said the word aloud but Mercedes knew it was there. It was there in the way he smiled at her. It was there in the way she dreamt of him. But it was most obvious in the music. When they sang, there was something that she had never felt with another person. This feeling, whatever it was, made Mercedes so incredibly happy and just a little bit afraid.
That night, Mercedes had just closed her eyes for a moment when her phone beeped on her nightstand with a text from Sam.
"Skype?"
She replied quickly, jumping over to the laptop on her desk. After a few clicks, there he was, across her computer screen, smiling. Always smiling.
"God, you're gorgeous," was the first thing he said.
"Oh stop," she flirted, shaking her head, but eating it up. They spent so much time trading font and voices, but she craved his eyes on her.
"Never!" he avowed loudly, "How was your day? How was Glee? Tell me the tale of how Kurt caught onto The Great Marcus Caper."
She chucked and shook her head at his old timey vernacular.
"No?" he questioned, reading her reaction, "So that's a no on 'caper'? How about 'masquerade'? 'Con'? 'Hoax'? 'SWINDLE'?" When she just stared at him, he nodded, "Yeah, we can solidify the name later..."
"Sure. From Tennessee," she said, "this is an exciting ruse to name and laugh about-"
"Ooo, 'ruse,'" he said somewhat under his breath, "I like that one."
"But for those of us involved in Lima," she continued, "It's a bit of a stressful situation."
"I'm sorry, baby," Sam smiled, "You're right. So what happened?"
"Marcus walked me to Glee today and of course that sent the entire club into a gossip tizzy."
"They love a good scandal," he conceded.
"I know we are doing this on purpose, but... it's working almost too well. I haven't told one person in Glee that I'm dating Marcus. No, we haven't denied anything, either, but we're not kissin' in the halls!" Mercedes felt a rant coming on, and didn't hold back, "We're helping Marcus deal with his family drama and that spills over into school, but the Glee kids should know me, Sam. And frankly, I'm offended. Apparently, everyone is totally comfortable accepting the assumption that the two big, black teens will fall for each other."
"Mercedes, have I told you how fantastic you look tonight?" Sam interjected before she started to fume.
"Sammy!" she laughed, "You've seen these pajamas like 30 times. And we are not changing the subject to my beauty just yet, mister! I'm trying to vent here!" Mercedes giggled again then continued, calmer this time, "But I already know what you're thinking. We're doing this because Marcus needs me. Needs us."
Sam smiled lovingly and nodded. Mercedes went on, "I shouldn't want anyone to figure out the secret because I don't want Marcus getting hurt. But to be honest, I think I love Kurt a little more for seeing it. That Marcus isn't 'the one' for me."
"He would be the guy to catch on," Sam agreed, "So what do you want to do? Tell him or let him unravel this great mystery on his own?"
"I'll talk to Marcus," she began, thinking out loud, "Kurt would keep the secret, especially if he knew the whole situation. And it would be nice to have someone to talk to about you..." She smiled slyly into her webcam.
"Girl talk," Sam acknowledged with a smirk, "We all need it sometimes..."
"Are you talking up many girls these days, Mr. Evans?" Mercedes asked, one eyebrow raised up high.
"Nah... pickins' are slim around here. It's a damn shame," he answered bluntly.
Sam was enrolled in the same all-boys private school he attended before McKinley. When it became a reality that the Evans would be returning to Nashville, Mercedes pretty much filled out the entire Financial Assistance Scholarship application for Sam, knowing it would be best option for him academically, but also not hating the idea of no girls in sight. She knew it was silly and she trusted Sam completely but she also knew how wonderful he was and that someone in that city was bound to catch on. Rather than boarding at school, this time he was commuting across the city from his family's new apartment. It made the most sense financially and allowed Sam to be home more often with his siblings.
"Want to know why I wish I went to school with girls? For real?" he asked her softly.
"Okay," she nodded, with a touch of trepidation.
"Because if I had girls to be friends with, they'd be much more likely to let me gush about this amazing girl in Ohio that I'm thinking about every minute of the day. The guys?" he smirked and shook his head twice, "Not a chance. I've tried! Teenage boys are apparently not even interested in the most epic of love stories. We're not great listeners, I've learned... Pass my apology along to the girls for that, will ya?"
"Which girls?" she giggled.
"All of them. All girls." he answered, matter-of-factly.
Mercedes actually reached out and touched his face on the computer screen, "I miss you so much, Sam. I am dying to be near you so I can clamp down and not let go. And I'll gladly listen to you gush about this girl. She sounds great," she winked.
"Oh, she's the best and I can't wait to see her again. In real life... where she can't escape my lovin'," he replied, barely containing his huge smile, "I'm picturing you, me, your dad's tent, my ratty old sleeping bag, and the stars. What do you think?"
"Sounds amazing," she sighed deeply and looked at the alarm clock next to her, "But I should probably go now. I have a Physics test tomorrow."
"Mercedes?" Sam asked in an exaggeratedly innocent way, "Will you sing me our song first?"
"We don't have a song," she answered quickly.
"You know what song I'm talking about..." he said emphatically.
"Sam Evans, I refuse to let that be our song!"
"But it's my favorite!" Mercedes rolled her eyes but kept smiling.
"Please, baby...It helps me sleep," he crooned.
Powerless to his charms, she gave in, "Okay I'll sing it but I will NOT be singing this to you every night for the rest of our lives."
He laughed, "Fine... Every other night?"
"Sam!"
"Okay," he bargained, half-serious, "How about you only sing it to me when we have the State of Kentucky in between us?"
"Boy, do you want me to sing the song?"
"Yes, yes. Shutting up now," he assured her and leaned in closer, resting his chin on his right hand.
Mercedes started singing what some might consider the cheesiest song known to humanity. Sam was clearly not among those people. As ridiculous as it is, she truthfully loved singing it to him because of the look of undiluted adoration always on his face while she serenaded him, especially for this song. But she still wondered why this boy felt such an emotional connection to a cartoon mouse looking for his family.
Somewhere out there
Beneath the pale moonlight
Someone's thinking of me
And loving me tonight.
She sang directly into his soft green eyes until he turned to watch something behind the laptop. Stacey crawled into his lap, without a word, and snuggled close to him. Immediately, both of them were glued to Mercedes, as she made her way through Fievel's heartache. Ever so slightly, Sam rocked his body back and forth, lulling his sister in his arms like second nature.
And even though I know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing
On the same bright star
As she finished the song, Mercedes just barely overheard the little girl sigh sluggishly and whisper to her brother, "I miss Mercy."
"Me too, Stace." he whispered back, eyes piercing Mercedes, even through a webcam.
Sam moved his arms from around her so he could applaud loudly and the little girl slowly joined in, yawning through a big grin.
"Beautiful as always," Sam reviewed, "Right, Stacey?"
"Right," she answered quietly.
Mercedes whispered with a smile, "Thank you, Sammy. Now you get that lady to bed. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Goodnight, my pretty girl," he said into the computer. Stacey started to doze off against his shoulder.
"Goodnight, Stacey. Goodnight, Sam. Sweet dreams to you both."
Mercedes blew them a kiss and closed her laptop. She crawled into her bed, happy and warm.