Sooooo...this story has been on my mind since last night and I finally wrote it. I was listening to Neyo's Never Knew I Needed and visualized Samcedes. I know many of you will see Rachel's name and be turned off immediately but trust me the focus is Samcedes as all my stories are. I really should be finishing off my last novel to finish my contract (I'm three chapters away and struggling.) anywho...let me know if you like the idea...hate it? Should I just stop writing Samcedes fanfiction?
Rachel smiled nervously as she double checked and triple checked her notes. Today was the day that she was finally going to show what she'd been working on the past few years. She'd sacrificed so many relationships and friendships because of her devotion to making this show. Nobody understood why she wanted to do this and she didn't care. All of her investments and research and time that she put into this, she was finally going to see if it would make it to TV. She'd sent her proposal to one of the biggest TV producers that she knew, Will Schuester, and he actually called her. He was interested in hearing about her show idea. She noticed Will walking towards her and immediately felt her mouth become dry. She took a sip of her water then smoothed her hands down her skirt then quickly checked her bangs that fell over her forehead and forced a smile on her face.
"You are great! You deserve this!" she mumbled to herself a couple times then took a deep breath and turned just as Will walked in. "Mr. Schuester, pleasure to meet you." She said as she extended her hand to him. "I know you're a busy man so, I am honored that you took the time out of your day to meet with me today."
"Then let's not waste any more time." He responded giving her hand a quick shake before sitting down. She wasn't sure how to take his abruptness so she became even more nervous and made her way back to her notes.
"Very well," she mumbled more to herself. "In the past few months I have researched relationships and marriages between people that I know and…"
"Ms. Berry, can I stop you there?" Schuester asked raising his finger and forced a smile over at her as she dropped her notes to her side in annoyance. "You are aware that I have read your proposal, right?" he asked and watched as she nodded. "I was already interested. I'm here for you to show me why I should continue being interested in all this." He sighed then continued. "Please cut to the chase and show me what I came for."
"You're right. You're right." She smiled and dropped the notes on the table before turning around and turned on the TV that was in the room. "What are the two most wanted things in the world?" she asked and waited for him to try to answer. When he didn't respond, she pressed a button and immediately a couple pictures of different people that she'd researched flashed on the screen till it stopped on a picture of Latina that was checking out her makeup. "This is Santana Lopez. She is a closeted lesbian, married to this man." She smiled as a picture of a burly man was displayed beside her. "He is also gay but they are married and have managed to stay married for five years, even though they hate each other." Rachel pressed a button and another couple came on the screen. "This couple here, they've been in love since high school." She smiled as the displayed showed two Asians that she tried to get to sign on for the show. They declined which made her realize she was doing things wrong. "They never married." She pressed another button then stopped as more couples flashed.
"You've interviewed all these couples about their relationships?"
"No…half of these faces are people that are lonely, single and wish they were in a working marriage or relationship." She smiled and walked over to the table then sat before crossing her legs. "The other half needs money." She smiled wider when she noticed that he understood the question she asked earlier. She pressed a button and a video appeared on the TV before she paused it. "Meet Mercedes Jones."
"Hi…I'm Mercedes Jones. I'm twenty-five and I am originally from Lima, Ohio. I moved to L.A. right after I graduated High school to pursue a singing career. I had a job as a waitress which helped with dating because I meet so many cool people."
"You said had?"
"Yes…I recently lost my job." She shifted then looked away as she continued. "Living in L.A. on a waitresses' salary is already rough but now I am jobless…soon to be homeless if I don't get it together, ya know?" she laughed but Rachel knew she saw the worry that lied beneath.
"What if I offered you the opportunity to make a million dollars?" Rachel asked. Mercedes' eyes widened then suddenly shifted as she thought hard on the question before smiling.
"I ain't doing no porn. I'm a Christian woman."
"Christian woman?" Rachel asked then shifted her question. "How do you feel about marriage?" she asked and watched as Mercedes pondered harder on that question.
"Marriage is something that I take seriously. It's a holy bond between one person and another. I don't play games with marriage." Mercedes responded with a smile feeling she answered the question the best way she could. Rachel smiled and wrote down a couple notes before finally going in for the cout-de-gras.
"Would you marry a man for a million dollars?" Rachel asked then smiled when Mercedes pondered even harder.
"The look in her eyes was the same in numerous women as I asked that question. It didn't matter what they were into or if they were religious. It was amazing seeing the glimmer in their eye when they consider it seriously." She smiled then pressed another button. "And I wondered, will it be the same look in a man's eyes?"
"Did it?" Will asked. Rachel smiled and pressed another button as faces flashed again then stopped on a man.
"Meet Sam Evans."
"Howdy, I'm Sam Evans. I'm twenty-five-ish. I stopped counting. Just know I'm legal." He smirked as Rachel waited for him to continue asking question. "My hobbies include gambling, art, family and hanging with my Bros. A nice cold beer and a good game, you know, chill stuff."
"What do you do for a living?"
"I live life, man. You never know when it's your time. So, it's best to just live life." He said as he ran his hands through his long blonde locks. "I sell my art some time." He replied and shrugged as if he had no worried. But Rachel saw the worry in his eyes. Something was bothering him and she knew it.
"So, what if I offered you the opportunity to make a million dollars?" she asked then waited to see the look in his eyes. He stared at her for a bit then a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"I'm not killing anybody. My sister still needs me." He said suddenly revealing too much as he tried to laugh it off. "She can't look up to me if I'm in prison." Rachel smiled and wrote down his response before circling sister on her notes. Although he said it in a joking manner, it was obvious that his sister meant a lot to him.
"What would she say if you got married?"
"Me? Married?" he asked before laughing himself to tears. "She'd think that I was abducted by aliens and somehow they'd warped my brain into believing that marriage was something that I even cared for."
"How about getting married for a million dollars?" she asked then smiled when he suddenly stopped laughing.
"So, my proposal is that I will give you the best show to ever hit the TV screen. Picking two random strangers with different interest and lifestyles, put them together in marriage with a promise of gaining a million dollars. Forget Real World...think Real Life!" Rachel pressed another button and a picture of Sam and Mercedes were side by side. "They will have to remain married for ninety days or forfeit the money. After ninety days, if they decide to call it quits they will only get a quarter of that. If they remain married for a year, they'd be instant millionaires." Rachel smiled proudly as Will listened. She waited to see if a smile would crack but he just stared at the TV then looked over at Rachel.
"Where will you find a million dollars to give to them if they actually make it?" he finally asked causing the smile on Rachel's face to widen.
"That's the kicker! They won't! During the marriage, I will give them different things that they would have to do. And when they initially signed up for the study, I did a background check on the both of them. I found their weaknesses and will throw it at them every day. Imagine the ratings." Rachel smiled. She'd finally put it out there and she felt great about it. She watched as Will thought about it all. There was no way he'd turn her idea down. It was pure gold. And he'd be an idiot to turn it down.
"When do you want to start production?" Will asked as the smile on his face finally spread wide. Rachel looked back at the picture of Mercedes and Sam, then nodded in excitement. She couldn't wait to get it started.
Mercedes sat at her table and looked at all the bills that were scattered. The letter in her hand was supposed to help fix all of that. She read the letter numerous times and still couldn't believe what she read. "Look at God!" she said to herself as a tear fell from her eye. Was this God's plan? Did he really want her to marry a complete stranger for a million dollars? Sure, the show promised that she would live in a rent free six-bedroom house right off the beach, all-expense paid for the first ninety days of the marriage. But would God really want her to do that? Marriage was something serious for her but so were these bills. She wanted to call her best friend Tesla and ask her about the letter said that she couldn't tell anyone that it was for a million dollars till the show aired. So, she was on her own.
"Girl, it's a million dollars and you ain't got your rent ready for next month." She said to herself as she stared at the letter. She grabbed her phone and dialed the number on the bottom before she changed her mind. "Uh…Rachel Berry, please?"
Sam stared at his reflection and sighed. He knew that agreeing to marry a random person for the world to see was a bad idea. But he really needed the money. All of his gambling had finally caught up to him and he needed to do something about it. He read the letter a couple times before looking over at his sister, Stacy, and knowing that he was all she had left. Their father died of cancer and their mother followed suit not too long after in a car accident. Some said that she tried to take her life because of their father but Sam called it an accident and never said otherwise. From then on, he gambled to keep the both of them above water. He was doing well for a while but it didn't last long and selling his art wasn't enough.
"All I gotta do is pretend to love a chick for ninety days." He thought to himself. "Hell I've pretended longer at the different jobs I've held." He fiddled with his phone then dialed the number. "Uh…hello is this Rachel Berry's office?" He asked as he nervously waited for her to answer the phone. "After ninety days, I'll just take the money and we will be cool." He smiled at his sister then brushed her hair away from her face. "Just you and me, kid. We'll get through this."