Title: The (not so) White Horse of Mercedes Griffin
Summary: Mercedes really did love Logan. But Logan loved Camille. Is there any hope for Mercedes to find her prince on his white horse?
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Don't own, never have, never will.
A/N: 21st story. Damn, I'm on a roll.
And the mutant plot bunnies made me do it, I swear.
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Mercedes really did love Logan. She dated him for maybe two weeks, and she knew that wasn't long enough to truly be in love with someone, but she definitely loved him more than any of her previous boyfriends. Even though it was only two weeks, she'd began thinking of Mercedes Mitchell, and if they got married, who would he choose for best man and who would she choose for maid of honor…
But when she saw him with that Camille girl…she knew he could never be hers. She knew he belonged to the crazy girl with the curly brown hair, and she knew he would never be the one to comfort her when her dad ignored her, and she knew he would never be the one to ride in on a white horse and save her.
He apologized like a gentleman, explained that he'd never had two girls interested in him, and that the other boys had convinced him it was a good thing and he knew he never should have done it. His face looked like an angel's, beautiful and simple, and she hadn't noticed just how beautiful it really was.
She'd honestly believed he might have been the boy for her. He didn't grovel or want something from her, and he was genuinely sweet and kind and just the type of boy she'd always dreamed of falling for, and she'd never thought she'd meet anyone like him, anyone anywhere in the world. And then…then she saw him with Camille.
That was when it was over.
After she broke up with him, she dated a whirlwind of other guys, Guitar Dude (she never did learn his real name) and a dozen other boys she didn't know.
Stupid, she chided herself. You're Mercedes Griffin. Sweet boys don't love you. You should've known he wasn't the right one for you. Stupid girl, you should've known.
But still, the days dragged on, and she began to wonder if she'd ever find anyone as sweet or as kind or as genuine as Logan Mitchell.
She should have realized that while she may have been Mercedes Griffin, heir and CEO in training of a large corporation, she wasn't a princess, that she didn't live in a fairytale, and that Logan wouldn't ever sweep her off her feet and lead her up the stairwell. That honor belonged to Camille, and every time that thought of it, a stab of pain shot through her heart.
It might have been Hollywood they lived in, but it sure wasn't the perfect romance that she thought should have happened. She had been a ditzy dreamer before Logan, but when he let her down…she'd never been more grounded, more realistic.
And even if Logan Phillip Mitchell came riding in on a white horse, it would be too late. She'd already know about his real true love.
She couldn't believe she'd been so naïve, couldn't believe she'd forgotten he'd never wanted her in the first place all because of his gorgeous brown eyes.
She'd had dreams of happy endings, with the first guy who even bothered to look at her personality. And then the crushing realization.
Camille was the princess, Camille got the fairytale ending, Camille got the handsome prince. Camille got the cinematic happy ending, Camille got to stay the dreamer, Camille got the white horse and Camille got the happy ending.
Mercedes guessed it made sense—after all, her cousin had gotten all the hard breaks in life, and she'd lived a fairly cushy life. Maybe it made sense that Camille got the perfect, sweet guy, not Mercedes.
The image that still haunts her dreams is Logan begging for their forgiveness, begging that neither of them be too mad. She dreamed he'd be begging for her—but it wasn't right. She was depressed for months after, far too long for a two-week fling that he'd probably forget in a matter of hours, but she really thought she loved him.
If he really loved her, he'd chase after her. If he didn't, he wouldn't. That was her reasoning—it was a big world. If he really loved her, he'd come after her.
He never even looked for her. Never glanced her direction.
So she left LA. She still worked for her dad, but instead was a production intern, and she would explore the world, learning about music around the globe. It was about time LA disappeared in her rearview mirror. She'd only grown up there, after all. Sixteen years was too long, in her opinion.
It was the one thing that still felt right in her world.
So, four years later, when she was forced to meet up with her dad, Gustavo and Big Time Rush at a LA concert, it was the first time she'd returned to her childhood home in four years.
She was drastically different, curly blonde hair cut in a chin length bob that she barely paid any attention to in the morning, a pair of blue plastic glasses replacing the contacts she'd once worn. Her style was still unmistakably high end, but it was simpler, more subdued. Jeans and swishy skirts, blouses and t-shirts. Sandals and ballet flats. Always a headband and her key around her neck. Nothing special—but something distinctly Grace Gallagher.
The boys barely remembered her, and only James's eyes flickered in remembrance when her birth name was mentioned. She'd immediately asked her dad not to call her that, that she was Grace Mercedes Griffin-Gallagher now, legally and technically. Grace Gallagher for short.
When Mercedes didn't even cause a memory to trigger in Logan or Kendall or Carlos's eyes, she sighed in relief. Logan didn't remember her—and it was good, she thought.
Maybe she was over him.
So when James asked her out, she accepted with a shy smile and a quiet laugh. Completely unlike the Mercedes she'd once been, who would have demanded he take her out. She was shy little Grace Gallagher, teen magazine correspondent and the person who discovered the hottest new talent.
They went to a burger joint, Grace (because she wasn't Mercedes any more) wearing jeans and a cute green cotton blouse. James wore a hat and sunglasses, hoping not to be recognized, and surprisingly, it worked.
No one noticed Grace Mercedes Griffin-Gallagher, ex-Hollywood socialite and teen scene magazine correspondent or James Diamond, one of the hottest music stars and actors in Hollywood.
She ate a whole massive burger with fries and a milkshake, and James commented that he liked a girl who actually ate on dates, not nibbled and pretended not to be hungry.
He liked real girls, he'd added. The ones he'd dated since beginning Big Time Rush made him realize it. Camille and Stephanie had proven that to him.
Logan and Kendall's respective girlfriends, he was quick to explain. Carlos had yet to find someone he truly liked and Jo, Kendall's ex-girlfriend had been a cheating scumbag (Kendall's words, not James's.)
As they talked, Mercedes-Grace began to fall, little by little, for James Diamond.
She knew she was setting herself up for heartbreak—he was exactly the type of guy to lead a girl on, but something just made her want to trust him.
And maybe he'd changed from the guy he'd been when they were sixteen. They were twenty. Adults.
He kept thinking she was plain old Grace, and she kind of liked that. He liked that she didn't treat him like he was anything special. He was just James, and she was just Grace.
On their seventeenth date (not that she was keeping track), when she explained that she was Griffin's daughter, he'd confusedly asked if she was Mercedes' sister.
To this day, she doesn't know what made her do it, but she told him everything, about Logan and Camille and being a princess and about the four years she spent trying to forget the boy she was in love with but shouldn't have been because it was only two weeks.
It came out in a whole massive spill of words, and James laughed when she explained it.
"So we've both changed." He explained simply. "You've grown up, I've grown up. Logan was already grown up, so he's still the same, but the new you wouldn't like him as much."
She kissed him full on the mouth, her first kiss since she'd dated Logan, and sparks and fireworks went off in her stomach.
And that was all it took Mercedes Grace to realize that she was in love with James Diamond.
So now, when she dreams of a prince on a white horse, it's not a geeky black-haired boy with chocolate eyes.
Instead, it's a handsome boy with caramel brown hair and honey eyes.
Maybe Mercedes Griffin is a princess after all.
Princess Mercedes Grace Griffin-Gallagher Diamond.
It's a bit long, but she thinks she'll be able to shorten it.
Princess Grace Diamond.
Yes, she rather likes that a lot.
What makes it even better is that her prince and his white horse finally found her.
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The mutant plot bunnies made me do it, I swear.
Mercedes just needed some love. I couldn't just let her fade into the background. And then when I re-watched Big Time Demos and Big Time Party, something just clicked in my mind. Why would she be so nonchalant about losing Logan if she wasn't hiding something. I was also listening to White Horse by Taylor Swift (annoyingly cliché, but at least it's got some redeeming qualities) and you know, Mercedes must have feelings too.
This was the result. And I think Mercedes and James would make a cute couple, once they grew up. As long as James never let his hair grow longer than hers, at least. No offense to dudes with long hair, I just think your hair should be shorter and jeans shouldn't be tighter than your girlfriend's. That just gets awkward.