Sam and Mercedes sat at the piano in the choir room. Mercedes picked out a tune on the keyboard while Sam strummed his guitar.

"I wonder what he wants" Sam said. "Maybe he was so impressed with Whiskey Lullaby he wants us to sing it at Nationals."

"I doubt it" Mercedes had spoken to Mr. Schuester privately about Nationals and his plans did not include a lead for Miss Mercedes Jones, that much was clear.

"I understand neither of you are going to the prom" their teacher said entering the room. Sam and Mercedes looked at each other.

"Nobody asked me." Mercedes said. "I'm not getting dressed up to sit around and be ignored. I can do that at home for free."

"You know how many pizzas you have to deliver to earn $30?" Sam added. "Why should I buy a ticket to watch my ex-girlfriends dance with other guys? Besides, Citizen Kane is coming on and I want to see who Rosebud is." He winked at Mercedes.

"Bring a pizza and we'll watch it at my house" Mercedes said laughing.

"Rosebud's a sled, Sam" Mr. Schuester said. "It's the name of his sled."

"Way to ruin a movie, Mr. Schue." Mercedes said with a straight face.

"Next you'll want me to believe Soylent Green is people." Sam said.

"Or that the Maltese Falcon is a fake."

"Or Donna Noble is a time lord."

Mercedes stared at him. "You just lost me, bro."

"Well, Donna's this secretary, see, and she thinks she's in love with this guy in her office because he brings her coffee every day, but-"

"Guys", Mr. Schuester interrupted "fascinating as this all is since you're not going to the prom can I ask you to be in charge of the music? Since you know how Citizen Kane turns out can you drag yourselves away?"

"Will we get badges?" Sam winked again.

"Badges! We don't need no stinking badges!" Mercedes shouted.

Mr. Schuester sighed and wondered if he was making a mistake.

It was Puck's idea to do "Friday" because somehow Coach Sue left it off the banned song list. Rachel want to do "Jar of Hearts" because she didn't know who she was more pissed off at – Finn or Jesse. Blaine wanted to sing "Teach Your Boyfriend to Dance" as a hint to Kurt. He didn't go to McKinley but so what?

Things were going pretty well until the prom queen debacle. Mercedes always hated expressions like "man up" or "take it like a man" but from that day on she pictured Kurt and Blaine walking into that gym whenever someone used that expression. They looked like they were headed to the guillotine.

"It's a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done" Sam thought. That line from "A Tale of Two Cities" was stuck in his head. Since Kurt was wearing a kilt Mercedes expected him to shout "Freedom!" like whoever the hell Mel Gibson was supposed to be in whatever that movie was.

Instead he pasted on his most angelic smile and made a joke. He was magnificent. The joke didn't get wild applause, but nobody threw a bucket of blood and guts either. Then that idiot Figgins expected Kurt and Dave to dance. Dave bolted and Blaine stepped up. No jeers, no insults. Mercedes realized she was holding her breath and exhaled.

Sam sang "Time in a Bottle" as a special request from Blaine. Kurt kissed him, right there on the dance floor. Santana sang "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" and winked at the boys. Both boys blushed. Rachel and Quinn sang "King of Anything" before leaving to find their missing boyfriends. Artie asked if the band could play "Bodhisattva" and Alyce and Ben, who Mercedes knew from church, tore though the guitar solos. Tina finally got a chance to finish "I Follow Rivers."

Finally the night was over, time for the last song. Santana requested something slow and sad. She'd been dancing with Brit since Dave left.

"You Don't Know Me?" Sam asked. Mercedes nodded.

"You Don't Know Me" Ray Charles, Diana Krall
No, you don't know the one who dreams of you at night,

and longs to kiss your lips and longs to hold you tight.

To you, I'm just a friend, that's all I've ever been - no you don't know me.

Sam couldn't believe his eyes. Mercedes was staring at Kurt and crying. The thing about Mercedes was, well Sam didn't know Mercedes well enough to have many items on his "things about Mercedes" list but he'd been working with her all week on the prom set list and while she agonized over song selection – he'd been forced to listen to 20 versions of "You Don't Know Me" because every singer who could hold a microphone had recorded this song - her performances were consistent. The first time sounded exactly like the 10th time. The only reason he looked over was because "You don't know me" sounded different, pained. Now he racked his brain for some trivia about Mercedes and Kurt – nothing. They used to hang out together before Kurt left but how about now – she hung out with Kurt and Rachel. Who did she hang out when Kurt was gone? Had Kurt ever mentioned her? No. Had she ever mentioned him? Nope. Odd, really odd.

While waiting for Mercedes' dad to pick them up, since Rachel had ditched them, Sam and Mercedes were having the same thought, "I guess this is the part were we're supposed to kiss." Mercedes was opposed to getting kissed in principle, it just seemed kind of awkward. But when Sam leaned over she accepted his kiss. It was a very nice kiss actually, but the fireworks she expected – nope.

"Sam, I'm sorry but I think I just want a mate."

His eyes widened "Did you just say you wanted to mate?"

"Not 'TO mate', A mate'. That's Dr. Who talk for 'friend'. You must be really tired to miss a Doctor/Donna reference."

He looked even more surprised. "You looked up Donna Noble?"

"It took two minutes on the 'net and 15 minutes watching Youtube. Not exactly written in ancient Gallifreyan, hidden on the Boeshane Peninsula and guarded by sandworms."

"Did you say the Boeshane Peninsula? You turn me down and then reference Dr. Who, Torchwood and Dune correctly in one sentence? I think I'm in love, Ms. Jones."

"Well don't get too excited. That's all I've got."

They sat in silence until Sam asked "Okay, since we're friends, what's up with you and Kurt?"

"See, this is why people make out, so they don't have to answer that kind of question. And who knew you were so nosy? Kurt and I are friends."

"And that's all you've ever been?"

"You could use that line in a song, 'cept somebody beat you to it. Yes, that's all I've ever been to him. That's a pretty random question, why?"

"I don't know, you just kept staring at him, especially during that last song. It didn't seem friend-like."

She gave him an appraising look. Why was Sam paying that much attention to her? "If you must know I had a thing for him last year. It was pretty embarrassing, and expensive I'll add. I think it was mostly loneliness. Everybody was paired up and I felt left out so I thought, why not Kurt?"

"And he wasn't gay last year?"

"Yeah, well, there was that." She laughed. "And Kurt can be a real pain in the ass when he sets his mind to it. I'm not saying I don't want what I convinced myself I saw in Kurt. It's just I don't think Glee Club's where I'm going to find it." her cell phone rang. "Dad's here." she said standing up.

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