Hi everybodyyy! Sorry there was a bit of a wait, life got in the way. Also I wanted to make this chapter a bit longer than the other two. As always thank you so much for all of your reading and support! It means so so much! You guys rock! Ok. On with the story! :) Happy reading!

I own nothing.

Sam woke up a bit hung over from the night before. He didn't think he had a lot to drink, but he also hadn't drunk anything alcoholic in a while. Was he becoming a light weight? He'd have to fix that. As he woke up and noticed it was early afternoon his nostrils were hit with a very less than pleasant smell that made him gag. He had forgotten to take the trash out, again. He sighed as he realized he could put it off no longer. He got up and threw on some sweat pants, he was to tired/ lazy to find a shirt that didn't smell or have a medley of odd colored stains all over it. He grabbed the two overflowing trash bags from the kitchen and headed outside. His apartment building had one big dumpster in the back. He disposed of his rancid trash and went to go back inside, unfortunately he forgot his keys inside and the door had shut and locked after he came out. He groaned and mumbled some choice words to himself as he walked around front. He had become friendly with a few of his neighbors so he hoped one of them was home and would buzz him in. He was about to ring the bell of his neighbor Jill when he heard someone singing softly across the street. He rolled eyes as he realized they were singing that song 'Royals' which he thought was completely over played however the lady across the street that was currently singing it sounded really good. Whoever was singing paused for a minute and sneezed.

"Bless you" Sam yelled across the street, not really paying attention. He was trying to find someone else to buzz him in cause Jill hadn't answered.

"Thank you!" The stranger yelled back. "Sam?"

That caused him to look up. He knew a few neighbors in his building but that was it. He looked up to see who it was and almost had to pinch himself when he saw who it was.

"Mercedes!" He said happily, crossing the street. He knew he had a big dorky smile but he couldn't help it. He thought about her all last night. He even contemplated asking the bartender if he knew anything more about her.

"So I think maybe you are following me." She teased with a smile and they both chuckled. She didn't want to seem like she was super excited to see him, he was a stranger after all, but she was. "What are you doing here?"

"Well currently I'm trying to get back into my apartment, I came to bring the trash out and I left my keys inside."

Mercedes heard bits and pieces of what he said because now he was standing right in front of her and his very defined abdominal muscles looked really great in the sun. It should be a crime for this man to wear a shirt she thought. She paused for a minute as she bit her lip. "Wait, you live over there?"

"Yeah, what brings you to the neighborhood?"

"I live here" she said motioning with her keys to the building they were standing in front of. He looked a little dumbfounded. "Really?!" He asked after a second.

She giggled "Yes, really."

"Wow," he said "This is crazy! What are the odds?"

"What do you mean?

"First we just happen to be in that coffee shop at the same time and I honestly never thought I'd see you again, you know cause there are so many people in this city, and then I saw you singing at the pub and now we live across the street from each other."

"I see what you mean." She had to admit, it was kind of a crazy thing.

"I think maybe we're meant to know more about each other." He said confidently.

"What makes you so sure?" She asked honestly.

"Well, when I bump into a beautiful woman more than twice in one month I take that as a sign that we met for a reason."

She hoped that the blush she could feel coming on wasn't visible. "And what reason is that?" She knew he had a point but she was also a bit apprehensive.

"I don't know yet. But I think we should find out" He said with a smirk.

She sighed contemplatively "I think you might be right." She was smiling too, his was infectious.

"Then how about we grab some lunch, I mean all I know about you is your first name, and that you have killer pipes."

"Sure." It's just lunch she thought what's the worst that could happen?

"How about I meet you at that cool looking place down the block a little bit, in about half an hour?" He asked, looking very excited.

"Bella's diner?" She asked trying to pinpoint exactly where he wanted to go.

"Yeah! That one!" He said as he grinned "I have to go find a way into my apartment and get a shirt."

The shirt part is optional she thought to herself. "Good luck!" she said as he starting crossing the street. "It's Jones, by the way." She yelled across to him.
"Evans," he yelled back knowing what she meant "See you soon Mercedes Jones"

"See you then Sam Evans!" She smiled back.

Mercedes had this weird feeling in her stomach. It was butterflies. She would never admit it, but that's what it was. She went up to her apartment to freshen up a bit before heading over to the diner. She had woken up early and decided to run some errands to get them out of the way. She just threw on some mascara and lip gloss and decided that was good. She sat on her bed and sighed. He was right when he said this was crazy. This was some movie type stuff. She realized she was getting ahead of herself. She didn't want a relationship and who knew if Sam did or not. Maybe he just wanted to be friends. That would be fine with her. From the few interactions they had she got the feeling that he was a really great guy. She picked up her phone to text Maggie and Ashley but decided against it. She didn't want to create excitement if this was a false alarm. He could be super boring. Or maybe he was an ax murderer and he really was following her. Although she doubted he was she made sure her mace was still in her purse. Her gut was pretty good when I came to feeling people out. And her gut was telling her that he was a nice guy. She needed to kill some time before leaving so she didn't get there too early. She checked her email and Facebook, checked herself one more time in the mirror, and then left.

Sam had managed to get back into the building within a few minutes, which was good because now he had to find a clean shirt and probably pants that weren't sweats. He couldn't stop smiling. He firmly believed in what he told Mercedes about them meet being a sign of something more. What are the chances of them living across the street from each other? He wondered if she thought this was a date. At this point he just wanted to get to know her better. He had a feeling that she was very interesting. He rummaged through his pile of clothes that was sitting in the bottom of his closet. After about ten minutes he found a red shirt without any stains and minimal smell and some jeans. He was about to change when he realized that his clothes didn't smell, but he did. He hopped in the shower really quick and then got changed and left.

When Sam walked into the diner he immediately spotted Mercedes. She somehow looked even prettier than she did a half hour ago. Whenever he saw her he had this pull to just be near her.

"Hello, Ms. Mercedes Jones. Mind if I join you?" He said as he walked up to the table where she was sitting. She looked up from her phone and smiled. He realized he may have totally let his inner dork take over and cringed internally. Until she replied

"Well, Mr. Sam Evans I was waiting for someone but I suppose." She had a mock haughty look on her face that left as soon as she smiled again.

"Okay so now that I know your name, what else should I know about you?" Sam got straight to the point.

"I don't know," she replied honestly "What do you wanna know?" She then realized that this could be a very awkward lunch. She was never any good at describing herself.

"Okay," he said "let's start with the basics, what's your favorite color?"

"Yellow. What's yours?"

"Blue. Why is yellow your favorite?"

"It's a happy color, you can't not be happy when you're looking at yellow. Unless it's one of those shitty shades of yellow." That made him smile. "Why do you like blue?"

"It reminds me of my mom. Blue is her favorite color too. She decorated the whole house in blue. Not in a weird way. Just in a she likes blue sorta way." She nodded, still smiling.

"So are you from New York?" He continued the conversation.

"Nope," she said "I grew up in a small town in Ohio. It's kind of like one of those towns that you see in the movies where everybody sorta knows everybody and you see the same people doing the same things every day."

"Wow, really? How come you moved out here?"

"Eh, once you're in Lima for your whole life you're ready to try something new. I've always liked the largeness of the city so I figured why not live here."

"Wait a minute," he now had a kind of incredulous look on his face "did you say Lima?"

"Yeah, why?" She could see the gears moving in his head and wanted to know what he was thinking.

"One time when I was about 6 my family and I went to go visit my dad's cousin up in Toledo. We were almost there when we got a flat. I'm almost a hundred percent positive that the town we stayed in that night was Lima."

"You're kidding me, right?" If he was actually telling her the truth then her mind was blown.

"I am completely serious! Scouts honor." He said as he saluted.

"You were a scout?" she asked

"No," he laughed "it just seems to make things more legit"

She chuckled at his honesty. They continued to talk about pretty much everything. He told her what it was like growing up in Tennessee. They talked about their families, their childhoods, and their pet peeves. Everything. As the waitress brought the check Mercedes looked at the clock and realized they had been there for almost three hours. Mercedes reached for the check but Sam grabbed it first.

"Hey! I was gonna take care of that." She furrowed her eye brows a bit.

"I got this." He said very nonchalant.

"Can we at least split it?" She was trying to reason with him but had a feeling she'd lose this one.

"How about you can pay next time?"

"So there's gonna be a next time?" She was so relieved he said that. She was having a fantastic time and didn't want it to end.

"I think there has to be. Like I said we've met for a reason. Also, I haven't had this good a time in a while. " The way he said it she could tell he was flirting, but she could also tell that he was just naturally like that. It was subtle and fun, nothing serious or overwhelming.

"Well, I'm glad you said that because I haven't either." She answered honestly.

"Eh, I don't know it looked like you were having a pretty good time at the pub last night."

"Were you watching me?"

"I had to make sure it was you." He said casually as he got up "Shall we go?"

She smirked "Sure."

They got up and walked out of the diner "So, it's kind of out of my way, but would you mind if I walked you home Ms. Jones?"

She laughed, the way he said things was so different yet very endearing.

"What?" he asked as he smiled at her, her laugh was infectious.

"Nothing, you're just one of a kind, Sam."

"oh?"

"In a good way!" She added to make sure he knew she meant it that way.

"Then thank you!"

The both went kind of quiet for a few minutes, just walking down the street. It wasn't awkward, it was just quiet. "I was having fun last night," she started "I always have fun with those three, but it's nice to hang out just one on one kinda low key." She didn't know why she was telling him this but the words were just coming out.

"I know what you mean. The group I was with was pretty much Jack's friends. I've met some of them before but I wouldn't call them friends. I just tagged along to kind of get out of the apartment. It's nice meeting someone new that I can talk to, ya know?"

She nodded. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

"So," he said as they approached her building "I guess I'll see you around. It was great getting to know you, Mercedes."

"You too!" she said enthusiastically. "I had a great time." He turned to leave, still smiling. "Oh, hey hang on!" She said as if she had just thought of something. "Give me your phone." It was clear he was confused as to why she said that so she clarified. "So I can put my number in it."

"Ohhhhhh! Right! Here you go!" They swapped their phones and typed in their numbers. "I'll see you soon!" He said as he crossed the street.

"Thanks for lunch!" she yelled after him.

"No problem!"

Mercedes went up to her apartment and tried to process what just happened. She had a wonderful time with Sam and she felt very comfortable. She had a feeling they could be really great friends. He was super easy to talk to and a few times she felt her walls coming down. That scared her but Sam just being there made her feel a bit safer. She could tell he had a kind heart. Plus he wasn't bad to look at. She plopped down on her couch and smiled. It had been a very good day.

Sam went upstairs with a huge smile on his face. Mercedes was even more amazing than he had imagined. She was super easy to talk to, really interesting, and very beautiful. He had to keep himself from texting her as soon as he got to his apartment. That might be a little much he thought. So he texted his friend Jack instead. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have bumped into her again. This is really awesome he thought as he recounted the events of the day to Jack.