Author: This is my second glee fic as well as my second fanfic ever so bare with me. This was an impulsive fic that wouldn't leave me alone ...I didn't even write it down b4 I started typing it up.
Notes: This fic is not based off any of the episodes.
Warning: Characters may seem or be ooc.
Disclaimer: I do not own glee if I did certain people would b singing more as well as have a storyline...end of story.
Observing Miss Jones
Jesse St. James walked down the halls of McKinley High, not for the first time this week, he was here to check out the competition. The New Directions were not playing around this time and he wanted to see what he was in for, though if he was completely honest he could have left the same day as he arrived, he's gotten all the information he needed and there wasn't any reason to stay even if he and Rachel were casually hanging out. If he was being honest with himself he could admit that something had caught his attention, how it didn't grab his attention before...he just doesn't know.
Coming to a stop in front of the glee classroom he observed the members quietly behind the closed door, Jesse wondered why he never saw similarities between the New Directions and soap operas, he laughed quietly to himself. All they ever did was get in relationships just to have it end as quickly as they started, at the rate they were going they would have all dated each other before graduation. From what Rachel told him his observations wasn't that far off, he learned a great deal from Rachel talking about her love life, her life in general as well as the glee members, and just like any soap it seemed the glee club was stuck in webs of lies and triangles.
Looking through the window of the classroom door he noticed that Mr. Schue was not present, though Mr. Schue was never early when they had after school rehearsals. They had all the time in the world, and the members used this time to joke around, and unknowingly to them Jesse used his time to observe them or what had caught his attention. It wasn't an object but more of a human and it wasn't the group but more of a person and it wasn't Rachel Berry but more like Mercedes Jones that caught his attention.
Jesse was not deaf, he knows Mercedes has talent, that she can sing beautifully. He was not blind either, Mercedes was just as attractive as any other girl. Those things about Mercedes wasn't what caught his attention, no it was something else. At first he thought nothing of it, the connection she seemed to have with the men of glee but it wouldn't leave him alone, he was just too damn curious about it so he observed and followed her one day.
Leaning against the door frame Jesse kept his eyes on Mercedes. That day was, it was a learning experience for him in a way. Seeing Mercedes, the way she acted with each individual guy was an eye opener. He wondered what their girlfriends would think if they just saw they're men and Mercedes interact, if they would really listen and really see, he wondered how they would react.
~Flashback~
Mercedes walked fluently through the crowd avoiding the shoveling and pushing as she made her way to her locker, unaware of being followed.
Jesse was not far behind keeping pace with Mercedes and slowing down as he came closer. Jesse leaned casually against a locker, Rachel's locker in fact which had been moved due to some event or another, he wasn't really paying attention when Rachel had told him but he was glad that her locker was close to Mercedes.
Mercedes looked up at him, acknowleding his presence. "Hey Jesse what are you doing here?" she asked cautiously.
"Oh nothing much, just...uh..waiting for Rachel." he didn't know what else to say, he was there to spy on the glee club but sense he was done he was spying on her now because that answer would have went over well.
She frowned at him "Are you even allowed to be here?" the way she looked was in a less then friendly matter, it seemed his answer only made her suspicious.
He looked at her casually "I pulled some strings, so yes I'm allowed to be here. I'm top of my class I'm not really missing anything and if I am I can get it done." he shifted against the lockers "Look I'm not here to cause any trouble if thats what you're thinking. I've been here a couple days now, just hanging with Rachel is all." he added a little smile for good measure.
Mercedes looked at him, and I mean really looked, like she was cataloging everything he did. She finally replied. "Ok then" giving him a little smile of her own. She looked ready to say something else to him when Puck and Finn made their way over to her.
Jesse released a breath he didn't know he was holding, he was happy Mercedes attention wasn't on him, and instead it was on two of the guys of glee. This was it, it has started, and he needed not draw their attention and observe them instead, observe how they acted with Mercedes. He straightened against the lockers leaning towards Mercedes direction slightly, turning his head in a way that would have all three of them in his sight without making it obvious.
Mercedes shifted towards Puck and Finn as they stopped in front of her "Hey guys, what do u want?"
The question could have sounded a little harsh from anyone but it didn't from her.
"Uhm, well Kurt told me you weren't coming to the house because of his date with Blaine." Finn shifted arkwardly making his height all the more obvious.
"Yeeaaah well me, him and Blaine are going to the mall after school so it's not as bad as it sounds. Why are you asking?" She looked towards him with confusion in her eyes.
"Uhm" Finn looked down at the ground before looking at Mercedes again. "Well Puck is coming over my house as well as a few other guys and we were going to do manly stuff." Finn's voice took on a deeper and more serious tone before taking on a nervous one. "So I was wondering if you could bring back my old halo games as well as a few others, I know Kurts been giving them to you what with your brother being home from college for a while." he ended.
Mercedes snorted "Yeah cause playing games is the manliest thing to do, but yeah I'll bring them since I haven't exactly been giving them back." She ended sheepishly.
"It is so manly" Finn lightly argued back, pouting slightly.
"Mhmm believe what you want." She said laughing.
Two simultaneous smiles appeared on Finn's and Puck's face at Mercedes laugh, even a little one of his own appeared unconsciously.
"And what do I owe the pleasure of you being here as well." Mercedes looked at Puck.
"You know why I'm here" he said winking at her, reaching into his back pocket to get out a cd.
"Oh yes I know why your here my little jazzy boy" She laughed taking the cd out his hand and reaching into her locker taking out another. "As I've said, this cd is mine and I expect it to be treated with the utmost of care, any and all damages to this cd will result in damages to you which means you are liable to anything I want to do to you."
"You don't have to use the cd as an excuse to get you some of all this" Puck stepped back and pointed at himself letting an eyebrow raise in amusement. He went to grab for the cd in her hand.
"If I wanted you I could have you." Mercedes retracted the cd before Puck had a chance to take it.
"I guess she doesn't want you dude." Finn said laughing.
"Shush you" Mercedes laughter joined with Finn's before she looked expectantly at Puck.
"Okay fine nothing will happen to your precious cd I promise." Puck said. "We go through this routine each time, you should trust me."
"I do, just not with this." She handed him the cd. "Oh and before I forget." Mercedes took off her little backpack and started rummaging around before taking out a small plastic tupperware filled with cookies. "These are for you, my mom insisted. Plus I figured you wouldn't mind." She handed the plastic bowl to Finn.
"Awesome" he took the lid off letting the aroma of chocolate chip cookies fill the small area they were in.
Puck snatched one of the miniature cookies from the bowl.
"Hey! thats mine." Finn said hiding the bowl away from Puck, swatting at his hands as Puck tried to get more.
"Sharing is caring." Mercedes sing-songed against her lockers.
"Sharing is caring." Finn repeated. "But he could have asked." he took a cookie out for himself before closing it.
Any further conversation was halted by the bells ringing, Mercedes quickly took her books out her locker making sure to lay the cd Puck gave her, gently against the back of her locker.
It was strange, anybody observing them would assume nothing of it, but Jesse knew what he was looking for, at least thats what he told himself. Puck and Finn were comfortable with Mercedes, their shoulders relaxed as well as the fact that every little laugh Mercedes did brought a smile to their faces. Puck eyes seemed to soften around her and that look alone seemed to take the edge that he normally had carrying with himself to uphold the bad boy image, while Finn on the other hand an innocence with her. It was hard to explain, he always thought of Finn as an idiot, his innocence made him aloof, made you wonder how the hell Finn passed any of his classes but with Mercedes it was innocence of a different kind.
Loud laughter could be heard as the football jocks made their way down the halls, it seemed they didn't care about getting to class on time at the casual pace they were going, and every student seemed to freeze and move away to make room for them. He looked at each football jock individually before returning his attention on Puck, Finn and Mercedes. Puck and Finn shoulders had tensed, Puck's body language seemed to be on the defense, it was projecting a message loud and clear to anyone who saw, it was saying step in this direction and be prepared to fight. Finn on the other hand had stepped in front of Mercedes his body seemingly saying that he would back Puck up if need be. Mercedes looked bored with it all, like this happened all the time and maybe it did, but her shoulders were tensed too. There wasn't a doubt in Jesse's mind that Mercedes couldn't stand up for herself as well as fight back but with her bodyguards around she wouldn't need to. As soon as the jocks were down the hallway, turning to go where ever, things seemed to be in motion and every person in the hall started rushing to class. Finn, Puck, and Mercedes shoulders seemed to relax and they themselves started making their way to class.
Mercedes slowed and looked back in his direction "Bye Jesse" she said and turned back around and continued her quest to her class. Then and only then did Finn and Puck finally realize he was there.
~0~
Jesse knew that he couldn't exactly hang out in her classes to further observe Mercedes and her connections with the men of glee, so he hid in the library and stuck his nose in a book to keep himself occupied, and when the bell for lunch finally went off he closed the book and checked it out of the library, he would need it for later.
Jesse was familiar with the school, when he made it to the lunchroom his eyes immediately looked for Mercedes, it should be easy this school wasn't exactly the most diverse not that his school was either. He saw Puck and Finn sitting with the rest of the New Directions but there was no Mercedes. It irritated him, he didn't want to miss any opportunity. He took a deep breath then headed outside where some of the students were eating. He passed some kid, a jock it seems with strikingly blond hair, he was reading some kind of comic using some sports magazine as a cover. Jesse laughed to himself, people were just too into holding an image. He decided to sit at the other end of table the jock was sitting at, he pulled out his book and began to read, he hoped he would see Mercedes at lunch.
"Hey Mercedes, over here"
Jesse's head snapped up so fast that he could have given himself a whiplash, his head turned in the direction of the voice realizing it was the jock who was calling out to her, he quickly looked back down and pretended to read.
"Hey Sam" was her response as she made her way towards him.
So thats who that is, Sam, he remembered Rachel mentioning him, saying he was a new member of the glee club.
Mercedes set her tray of food down in front of Sam telling him to wait, making her way towards him.
"You waiting for Rachel again?" She asked me.
Jesse pretended to be pulled away from his book, letting his eyes linger on the page before slowly looking up at Mercedes. "Yes"
"She's at the library" Mercedes responded, she had a hand on her hip in a casual manner.
Well shit he didn't know Mercedes knew that, he had to be quick. "Yeah I know, she said she would wrap up whatever she has to do fast." he knew Rachel was in the library she was studying for a test, so he wasn't expecting to see her at all. He made sure to really look at Mercedes before letting his eyes drop back in his book giving off the message that he was done talking. He could hear her make a slight noise in the back of her throat before turning away. Jesse was breathing hard and his heart was beating fast, but for what reason he didn't know. He lowered his book, turning his body in her direction; luckily he was close so he could hear everything.
"How was your day Sam?" Mercedes asked once seated.
"Eh the usual, what about you?" he asked looking up from his comic book.
"Same" was her response.
Silence settled over them and Jesse could see they were staring at each other with smiles on their faces, how it never got awkward he would never know.
Sam laughed nervously taking one of Mercedes tots from her tray "These are the only edible things at this school."
"Yeah they are." Mercedes laughed taking one for herself. "So whatcha reading?" her eyebrows arched in curiousity.
"Nothing really just an old Justice League comic I found online, it's awsome!" Sam excitedly told her, he moved up from his seat and made his way to sit next to Mercedes showing off the comic.
Mercedes seemed genuinely interested and was excitedly asking questions "I hope this wasn't a rare copy, I could try to buy one for my brother, he's always looking for more comics to add to his collection."
"No it's not rare, just old, so you better hurry and get it before it becomes rare." Sam told her. He started pointing at little pictures on the comic book, doing little voice overs as he sometimes read the chat bubbles.
Mercedes laughter filled the air, and Jesse could see a faint blush spread across Sam's cheek. Mercedes soon joined in, doing little voice overs of her own, getting Sam to laugh as well. They were so close, leaning against each other. It was confusing really, because Rachel had told him everything and that meant she had told him Sam was taken by Santana now, but the way Sam and Mercedes were acting, hmm...he didn't want to think too much about it. He saw all he needed to see.
Jesse slowly rose from the table, he would see Mercedes at glee, he made his way back to the school building, he knew they never saw him left.
~0~
It was at the end of the day that the glee club finally met, it seemed Mr. Schue had changed the schedule on them, and as much as Jesse wanted to wrap up this day and leave it behind him, he knew he couldn't just leave now, and there would be no point. He made his way to the auditorium where the glee club was meeting. He was early and some of the members were not there only Mercedes, Tina, Mike, Brittany, Artie, Quinn and Santana, but as long as Mercedes and at least one man of glee were there, Jesse didn't care about the rest. He was close enough where he could hear their conversations as well as see any flicker of emotions that passed through their faces.
Mercedes/Artie:
You know I know how
To make em stop and stare as I zone out
The club can't even handle me right now
Watchin you watching me I go all out
The club can't even handle me right now (yeahhhhh x3)
The club can't even handle me right now (yeahhhhh x3)
Out of nowhere they just started singing like it was a natural thing, they're voice molded well together, and there seemed to be a light that flickered in Artie's eyes that wasn't there before, it was a cross between excitement and interest. When the song reached the bridge Santana took over Mercedes part while she made her way over to Mike. Mercedes and Mike danced to the last parts of the song, them matching step for step. Then a look took over his face, the same look that appeared on Artie's when he was singing with Mercedes, excitement and interest. When the song ended though, it seemed to dim down on both their faces, both of them retreating to their girlfriends before the look completely went away. Why? Is the one question that popped in his head, what about Mercedes made them men of glee either act different or show an emotion that you would never see them have with their girlfriends? Maybe this was the only girl they didn't have to hide a part of themselves or maybe she was a breath of fresh air from their own. Jesse closed his eyes and thought silently on it.
Jesse felt a tap on his shoulder before a hand landed on him fully shaking him "You should head home, Rachel left."
His eyes snapped open and looked up to see Mercedes hovering over him, he jumped up. "Yeah...I...thanks"
"No problem." she responded. "Come on, walk me out."
They both made their way out the auditorium, letting the silence of the hallway fill them.
"I'm sorry you couldn't get your time with Rachel." Mercedes looked at him.
"It's fine I'll see her again, it's just one day." Jesse responded smiling at her. "I might go over to her house, what about you?"
"What about me?" she asked confusedly
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm gonna hang out with my best friend Kurt and his boyfriend Blaine at the mall." she answered "The usual."
They both made their way out of school, and saw two guys out front, waiting.
"Hey Kurt, Blaine." Mercedes said waving her hands, smiling widely.
"Hey" They both responded. Kurt ran to Mercedes and gave her a hug, brushing a kiss against her cheek. "I missed you girl." Kurt wrapped one of his arms around one of hers.
Blaine walked to Mercedes other side taking her other arm, leaning over to kiss her cheek "Hey Cedes."
"Let's go to the mall now please, before the sale ends" Kurt exclaimed dragging them along the sidewalk earning laughs from both of them.
Mercedes looked back and called over her shoulder "Bye Jesse"
Jesse waved goodbye to her, it seemed they both genuinely wanted to spend some time with her, Blaine wasn't just accepting it because he was Kurt's boyfriend, he was starting his own friendship with Mercedes.
~End of Flashback~
Jesse shook his head and finally removed his eyes from Mercedes, if anybody knew he followed Mercedes around McKinley High he would probably be told it was a waste of his time and who knows, maybe it was but he was slightly satisfied with what he found. He turned and bumped into someone, he looked up. "Hey, Mr. Schue."
"Hey Jesse, how are you?" Mr. Schue asked.
"I'm good, how are you?" he asked the teacher.
"I'm fine, what are you doing here?" he was asked.
"I was just heading out." Jesse said by passing Mr Schue.
"Uh, ok it was nice seeing you Jesse." called out.
As Jesse walked down the halls of Mckinley high, he told himself what he learned, soaking up the confession in his mind. He learned that whatever connection the men of glee had with Mercedes he definitely wanted in. He definitely wanted to be a part of Miss Jones and the men of glee.
...to be continued?