Author's note: Hi, everyone it has been a really long time. I got another promotion but I have to travel two hours, each way, for work now. This eats away so much of my time but I have been thinking about this lately. This is another AU story. I don't know how good this will be since I don't seem to have the energy that I used to anymore. I like to put my all in everything but this feels a little slow to me. Again, I don't know how long it will be or where I am really going with it-it was just an idea that I had. Please forgive all the mistakes and I know there are many. Thank you if you choose to go with me on this journey too – Anna.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.
My Eyes Were Trained On You
Chapter 1
Sam nervously steamed his suit as it hung on the back of his bathroom door he knew that this steamer was a good investment. He didn't have time to take his suit to the cleaners to be pressed and retrieve it again as he had hoped. He walked around the door and unplugged the steamer.
He needed to go to bed now, he was still getting used to sleeping in this bed so he had to start early to find just the right comfortable spot. He knew that it would take longer to fall asleep tonight anyway, if he could at all, he was too excited to sleep; he was too excited all the way around. It was his very first apartment in New York; it was his very first apartment period. A new city, a new job, and tomorrow was the beginning of it all. He had only arrived two days ago, and in that time he met with the realtor, picked up the keys and did a thorough cleaning of the place. For now he had some of his dorm room furniture sparsely placed around but it was a start. He knew this was not the complete realization of his dream (it's not like this was a Manhattan apartment) like he used to dream about-not yet anyway; but someday. For now he had to settle for a one bedroom in the Bronx, it fit a little better in his price range, he thought as he spun around with his arms outstretched and exaggerated a large yawn; simply because no one was around anymore to tell him not to.
He glanced at the clock on the wall and it read 10:27pm. He needed to go to bed and get some sleep for his big day at his new job tomorrow; numbers had always been his thing. This opportunity to work in finance on Wall Street was a big opportunity for him and he was not going to risk losing it by being late on his first day of work.
He turned off all of the lights except for the small lamp on his bedside table. He lay down on his bed and reached for the subway map that he had on the table. He unfolded it and turned it this way and that way. He could never quite be sure if it was right side up or not. "That's a long ride." He said to himself once he looked again "The number 2 train at Pelham Parkway all the way to Wall Street" I have to get moving early. He placed the map back down reached over check his alarm clock to make sure that it was set for 5:30am and then turned out his light rolled over and began the battle to find just the right spot, finally he won and slowly drifted off to sleep.
He had one of those sleeps that when the alarm clock went off it felt like he had slept at all. He had closed his eyes one minute and then the alarm was going off and his eyes were opened again the next. He didn't have time to ponder his strange relationship with sleep so instead he jumped up and started making himself some coffee and then he jumped into the shower.
Sam was looking pretty good he thought to himself as he started at the full length mirror hanging on the back of the door. His muted charcoal grey suit fit him perfectly. He poured his cup of coffee into his travel mug, grabbed his briefcase and his keys, locked the door and left for his big day.
Sam looked at his cell phone briefly and it read 6:22am as the train came- gliding loudly, piercing the air methodically, as it moved consistently and yet slowly into the elevated train station stop of Pelham Parkway. Sam would need to get used to such a loud and yet muted sound so early in the morning. First he heard the automated male voice speak as he stood on the platform with several other awaiting passengers on their way to start their busy work day. "A Manhattan bound local 2 train will be arriving in 2 minutes." Sam waited feeling like a real New Yorker now he took a sip of his coffee as he peered past a few other people while he leaned forward and looked in the direction from which the train would be approaching.
The automated voice sounded again. "A Manhattan bound local 2 train is approaching the station please stay away from the platform's edge." Sam backed up slightly as the train slowly pulled to a stop in front of him. "Ding Ding," he heard as the doors slid open and the automated female voice began to speak from within the train itself. "This is a Brooklyn bound two express train to Flatbush Avenue Brooklyn College; the next stop is Bronx Park East." He went toward an empty seat but someone else beat him to it. Sam just nodded and deferred and then looked a little farther down the train car and he noticed another empty seat and he sat down.
His tall body was wedged between a pole and the very curvaceous hips of a young black woman. At first he had not gotten a very good look at her but her perfume smelled like lilacs and his eyes were drawn to her hair; as he sat back in the seat his torso making him a head taller than she, while seated. It had covered most of her face and it was big, crinkly, long and full. He wondered how she had gotten it that way.
He was always taught not to directly stare at people so he had learned other tricks along the way. Sam looked at the window across from him in between the heads of the people sitting across from him and he tried to get a good look at her face; not to be too conspicuous he cleared his throat a little and took another sip of his coffee. The smell of lilacs reminded him of back home.
She was playing some kind of game on her cellphone; little read, green, yellow, and orange cubes descended from the ceiling of her phone down to its base and then disappeared. He looked around the train car and many other people seemed to be doing the same thing either that or drinking coffee like him. He was starting to feel like a real New Yorker, he thought as a small prideful smirk spread across his face.
The train pulled to a stop and the doors slid open and the automated voice spoke again "The next stop is East 180th street." The doors opened then people pushed into the car while others attempted to push out of it. The automated voice spoke again "Stand clear of the closing doors please, ding ding." The tone echoed slightly as the doors closed and the train began moving again.
Finishing the residual drops of his coffee warmed him on this slightly cool morning and he found the rocking of the train quite soothing. The train car filled with more and more people at each stop and Sam found himself snuggled between the young lilac lady and an older woman who slightly reminded him of his childhood friend's grandmother. He tried to sit as straight as he could but the warmth that was penetrating his left thigh from the shared space of the thigh of this lilac lady oddly felt comforting. He found himself enjoying this warmth and connection so much that he drifted off to sleep hypnotized by it.
"Excuse me, Excuse me" Sam slowly opened his eyes to see two gentlemen and some teenaged school kids staring at him and laughing. "None of these people looked like they would have sounded like what he thought he just heard." He thought. He was disoriented slightly and he heard something again. "Excuse me", the voice was low and soft. "Why did he smell the lilacs so predominately now?" He thought. "Why is everyone standing on an angle?"
The automated voice spoke again "The next stop on this train is Wall Street." "Wall Street?" That was at least an hour away from-then it registered. "Excuse me; this is my stop so I need my shoulder back." She spoke again. Sam's eyes grew wide and then he realized who had been speaking to him. He had been sleeping on lilac lady's shoulder this whole time. Nothing could hide the embarrassment on his face. "Oh, I am so sorry" he said with a thick southern accent as he removed himself from off of her body. "Please forgive me." He continued with the deepest southern drawl she ever heard.
Sam felt smaller and smaller as the teenaged school kids started laughing out loud and making comments about him, some of them were even pretending to snore. "Oh, God please don't tell me I was snoring while sleeping on her." He thought quickly.
She turned her head toward him and then he could get a good look at her whole face. "You must have had some night." She batted her eyes at him as she graced him with the fullest of smiles. "She was pretty, strikingly, pretty and even more so when she smiled." He mused. She continued to look directly at him and she spoke again "I would not have disturbed you but this is my stop coming up." It was then that she reached up and began to fluff out her hair again, which had been crushed as he lay on her shoulder.
The train pulled to a stop and she stood up, the dark burgundy skirt of her business suit was definitely leaving an impression on him, as she said "Excuse me" to the gentleman standing in front of her and she began to leave with the crowd who had been exiting from the train. Sam then remembered that this was his stop too. He jumped up and followed close behind her out of the door.
She felt his tall body which bumped into her back as she was moving through the door. "I'm sorry" he whispered shutting his eyes quickly and turning his head slightly to one side (reprimanding himself) and then looking at her with pleading eyes. "This is my stop too." He spoke meekly. "Thanks or I would have missed it." He whispered again quickly.
She looked over her shoulder toward him and smiled again. She then pushed her way through the crowd up the stairs and then she was gone.
XXXXX
Sam's day had gone pretty well considering, the sheer embarrassment of how it started, he had met the C.F.O. Mr. Figgins who had seem to be an alright guy and he was introduced to the rest of his team. Mr. Figgins had started his new pet project called "The Figgin's Four" this was a group of young, up and coming financial wizzes that he had hand-picked from hundreds of interviews from fifty different colleges and universities. They were going to be financial analysts and eventually venture capitalists that he would mentor and train them himself.
The team consisted of Mike Chang, Sebastian Smythe, and Ryder… Something (He couldn't remember his last name) and himself. Rumor had it that there was room for one more and that the project was originally supposed to be "The Figgin's Five" but that was still left to be determined.
Figgins was an old-school; military type and he had prepared them by letting them know that this group was to be tight knit. They were to cast off any old best friends because this circle was it! "You cannot do business well if you cannot trust your team." He drilled that into them all day long. They were not going to jump straight into work as much as they were going to jump into training exercises; team building exercises.
Sam continued to ponder his first day as he stood at the Wall Street train platform. He looked above his head to the electronic sign which read the next 2 train would be arriving in 7 minutes. He found himself glancing around at the people who were on the platform. He was hoping that he would see the lilac lady again, but why should he? "If New York was nothing else it was a big place and filled with people; what would be the odds?" He thought.
When the train pulled into the station Sam entered but finding a seat coming home proved to be an impossible task. "Well…. "He thought. "I suppose I truly am a real New Yorker because I am officially a strap hanger." He chuckled to himself and nodded his head. He was like a little kid staring out the window at all of the stops and watching as the train filled and emptied and filled again as it traveled back uptown. When the train had emptied again he had glanced into the other train car and saw her.
He backed up so much to get a good look at her that he bumped into the person standing and holding on to the bar behind him. "Sorry." He quickly stated and took a step forward again. "It's her…. I wonder where she is going?" "Right, smart Sam- where do you think she is going probably home stupid." He watched her as her body slightly swayed forward and backward with the rocking of the train car. She was standing as well and she looked so deeply lost in thought. Sam wondered what she could possibly be thinking about. He wondered what her day had been like as well. Sam had just found his distraction for his long train ride into the city. He wondered every day from now on what was going on in the life of the lilac lady.
XXXXX
Ever since that first day that they (well sort of met, but not really) Sam had the privilege of riding the same train to work with her every day and every night. She was always so beautiful, poised, and kind to those around her. He watched her as she gave money to homeless people on the subway. He watched her interact with small children in strollers always kind, loving, playful, and full of smiles- oh her smiles. He watched her enthralled in books, and she was a fast reader, it was a new one every week. He couldn't tell if she was slightly pretentious because she always had a book not an e-book reader but a paperback book (old school) but he could appreciate it. He imagined her going through the library on Sunday afternoons or a corner bookstore and picking what new adventure that she wanted to start on her train ride for the next week. "Maybe she is a part of a book club." She seemed to like thrillers mostly: "My Sister's Grave" by Robert Dugoni, "Escape" by David Baldacci, "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn, and now she was on to something new "Still Missing" by Chevy Stevens.
She had no idea but-he also picked up the books that she had been reading; only he read them at home at night. It somehow made him feel like he would get to know her better, understand her thoughts, or at least have something in common to discuss if he ever got up the nerve to speak to her. "It had been three months now" he thought and yet they hadn't spoken to each other again since. He did notice her patterns though she always rode in the conductor's car going to work and in the car behind on her way home.
He didn't know why she became this obsession of his "Was he that lonely in this town?" he asked himself the tough question. He had looked up at the electric sign which read 7:02 pm he had six more stops before he would leave her. She was always already on the train when he got on in the morning and he left her on the train every night. There were quite a bit of stops left after his and he often wondered where she actually got off at.
It was a Friday night and the train was somewhat empty at this point. Sam speculated that most of the people stayed downtown to party and to start the weekend off with a bang- but not her. When the train stopped at "Simpson Street" a group of men came into the train car, about five to seven of them, they were loud and drunk and were playing a loud radio which had been spewing all types of obscenities. They spoke loudly about getting to their destination and all they had planned to do to the women once they got there.
Sam read the lilac lady's body language and she tensed up, probably at first because they were interrupting her reading. She shifted her body weight in her seat and crossed her legs in the opposite direction.
One of the men spoke up quickly "Hey sexy, do you have any plans for this evening?" Sam inched forward in his seat slightly he was sitting in the next row of seats and across from her but he was paying attention. She on the other hand did not answer at all. "Hey you! Thickness, I am talking to you, you got any plans for tonight?" The men in the group started laughing at him and telling him that she was being disrespectful to him. "Miss…" he said more agitated. Sam watched this whole scenario unfold and he was not feeling good about it at all.
She looked up from her book and spoke. "Are you speaking to me?" She questioned. "You're the only one here who could answer to thickness ain't that right?" He said as one of his friends gave him a slight punch on his should with his fist. "You look good and I was wonderin' if you wanted to hang out with me and my boys tonight. We can make sure that you have a real good time."
Sam had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach this was not going to happen not tonight, and especially not to her. "I'm sorry I can't I already have plans." She said in a slightly dismissive tone. "Ha ha ha aha …I guess she told you" the crowd of men began to laugh at him. Sam noticed that the train was approaching his stop next but he refused to leave her in this car with just them.
"Well, I am pretty sure that I can make you cancelling those plans worthwhile." The guy spoke again as he moved in a little closer to her and grabbed at his manhood and readjusted himself as he moved closer to her. "Oh c'mon – she already dissed you what more do you want?" Someone else in the gang said. "I want her to recognize what she is missing" he barked back. "I am sure that you think I am missing something but I can guarantee you that I won't be missing it at all." She said turning her eyes downward back toward her book.
"What Bitch?" "Who are you talking too?" "No one would want your fat ass anyway!" He started shouting loudly in this mostly empty train car, the only thing louder than him was the music which was still reverberating, a deep bass beat. His group of friends started laughing again and that is when Sam stood up, it was his stop, he could have gotten off of the train when the door slid open, but instead he walked over to her and sat in the empty seat next to her.
He didn't say a word he just sat down next to her. This made the man who had been approaching her pause. "What do you want?" the man said to Sam. "I want to be a good eye witness if you attempt to accost this young lady." He said bravely, although his southern accent made the men mistake him for being a lightweight.
"Oh really! Do you think you are going to get involved here?!" He said. "I have been involved since the beginning." Sam said "You just didn't notice that's all." Lilac lady looked up at the electric sign she would be getting off at the next stop. It was then that the man grabbed at Sam's jacket but Sam stood up quickly and punched him straight in the gut. The man buckled to his knees gasping for air in quick spasmodic gasps. "Would anyone else like a try?" Sam began to unbutton his suit jacket and take it off throwing it on the seat behind him.
Two of the men reached down and picked their friend up off of the floor of the train car. While one other took a swing at Sam who back up out of the way of it and lifted his right leg and kicked the man in the stomach as well-he went flying into the seats across the way.
The train came to a stop and Sam made it very clear that the men should get off now and leave before he had to continue. The group carried their hurt friends off of the train and the door closed as it moved away from the station. "Are you alright?" Lilac lady asked him, she was so surprised at what had just occurred and for her benefit that was rare to find on a New York City subway.
"I should be asking you that." Sam said. "Well aside for the fact that they just got off at my stop-and I missed it, other than that I guess I'll be okay." She chuckled. "But then again …" she continued sheepishly. "I noticed that you missed your stop too." "Oh, that. I didn't feel comfortable leaving you here with them. Let's ride together until the last stop and then come back-by then they should be gone" Then Sam's words trailed off. "Wait a minute; you know the stop that I get off at?" He asked a tad bit excited to hear her answer.
She knew then that she had given away a little too much information. "Not to sound creepy or anything but I have seen you on this train before-you may not remember but we have even spoken once." "She remembered that from three months ago?" "Calm down Sam and just listen" he thought to himself again as he allowed himself to take in the slight hint of lilac that was still in the air. "It doesn't sound creepy at all" he spoke again anyway. "I am new in town and it actually sounds friendly. I would like to make some new friends." He found himself saying as he stared in her round brown eyes. She smiled back at him. "That would be nice."
The train pulled into yet another stop, no one entered or exited except for a cool chill which wafted throughout the train car. "My name is Sam." He said as he reached out his hand. "My name is Mercedes." She spoke as she shook his hand. "Mercedes" he never would have guessed that name but he liked it - it fit her. Then he remembered something that saddened him a little "I thought I heard you tell those men that you were meeting someone, should you call them?" "I wasn't meeting anyone; I just didn't want to go with them that is all."
"Oh," the smile returned to his face. "Would it be wrong for me to ask you to have dinner with me?" Maybe we can find someplace at the end of the line. Mercedes lowered her head in contemplation briefly and then gave him her answer "That would be nice, thank you, for everything." She said. Sam inhaled slowly the wafting scent of lilac again. "Oh no the pleasure would be mine." He said.
XXXXX
It was Sunday night and Sam could not wait to meet up with Mercedes on the morning train ride. They had decided that they would try to ride together (if they could) and he was so looking forward to that. She was so sweet, as they sat at the Chinese food restaurant he couldn't stop laughing at the things that she had said. He also was so grateful that he had read the same books that she had read because it meant that they were not for want of conversational topics.
She was a corporate lawyer - a junior one, she was new to her company as well, she was older than him by two years and she had grown up in New York. She only had an older brother but he no longer lived in New York. She said she also was lacking in the friends department simply because she had to stay driven and on course to pass the bar the first time.
He thought about her so much over that weekend, his job was going well enough but he felt so alive just wondering and thinking about her. He had a crush a serious, straight on, crush and he loved it! The next morning Sam was up, got ready quickly and was out of the door early. She told him that her favorite flavor of coffee was a Hazelnut Macchiato, light and sweet ("Sweet like her" he thought) so he was determined to buy one for her to drink on the train with him this morning.
He stood on the platform his briefcase in one hand and two cups of Hazelnut Macchiato in a tray in the other hand. The automated voice called out as it always did but today it sounded musical "Please stand away from the platform's edge" today, the way he felt, it might as well had been "Ave Maria."
The train pulled slowly to a stop and there she was he could see her seated and with her purse on the seat next to her. As the doors opened and the morning rush of people pushed their way in to the subway car one person walked up close to Mercedes but Sam quickly spoke up from behind them "I'm sorry but that seat is taken." His southern drawl on full display which made Mercedes chuckle as she removed her bag and allowed him to sit next to her.
Full of smiles, himself he extended the tray towards her so that she could take a cup of coffee. "Sam you didn't have to do this. Which one is mine?" She asked. "Either, they are both your favorite, I thought that I'd try it." He said as he slid his briefcase between his feet on the floor. That sat together and sipped their coffees, discussed the latest novel she was reading (really what they would be reading after tonight). Although, the train ride seemed so long before, now time just seemed to fly as they got off at Wall Street together. "Well, have a great day Mercedes." "Maybe we can meet for the ride home." She suggested. "I'll meet you right at this spot at 5:45pm." He said almost giddily. "5:45pm it is." then they were separated and disappeared into the crowd as up the stairs they went.
Authors note: So yeah, I am just playing around with this premise. Thank you for joining me in my imagination and please review.