Sam's eyes sprung open. His heart pounded against his chest and as his breath caught up with him, he rolled over and picked up his cell phone that was connected to a power cord. The light seemed blinding – The time read 5:13 on the faceplate. Another hour before he was supposed to be up. He texted Blaine, knowing that he turned it off when he went to sleep, saying, "I wish you were here – Not sleeping well."
Sam knew that without the security of Blaine's heartbeat he wasn't going to get to sleep again. So he forced himself out of bed and grabbed some sweats from his closet. He took Blaine's iPod from his jacket pocket and went out to the living room where his tennis shoes are. They would trade iPods, because even though they had a lot of similar music tastes, Blaine tended to like pop more while Sam leaned towards country. This was there little way of sharing music with each other.
And after Sam got his running shoes on he put the earphones in and began to pound the payment. He knew that he was supposed to stretch, but between P.E. and afterschool sports and Glee club he figured he was limber enough without it. There was music going through his ears but none of the words are registering. The cold air bit at his face but it didn't seem to phase his pace.
A block or two would get his mind back to where it should be. Sam had taken to running when he didn't have the security of Blaine to lull him back to sleep. It was an easy way to distract himself and to get ready for the day ahead.
The sun was coming up over the horizon as Sam turned down the block and headed back the direction he came. The run usually lasted about twenty minutes or so, which gave him enough time to get home and shower. His mind wasn't on sleep or nightmares or even Blaine anymore – He was thinking about regionals tomorrow and how the group seems tighter than ever. It really did feel, for the first time, like they were confident in winning.
Sam rounded the last corner and ran up the driveway back to his house. When he got in, his father and mother were getting ready for the morning. His mom was fixing what looked like waffles on the griddle while his dad was cutting fresh fruit.
"Hey Sam," his dad said, "Out running again? It's cold out there."
"Yeah," Sam said, his voice gravelly with the first words of the day, "Just wanted to wake up before school."
"Well, hurry up and shower," His mom interrupted, "Your breakfast is almost ready."
Sam smiled – As he walked down the hall, he stripped off his sweatshirt before running into Stevie. Quite literally, Stevie wasn't watching where he was going and collided right into Sam's thigh.
"Whoa there, Where's the fire?" Sam asked.
"Sorry Sam," he said, "Mom said to hurry up because she had to take Stacy to daycare before she took me to school."
"Well, get going then!" Sam said, pushing his brother gently on the back of the head.
Sam grabbed some clothes from his closet and took a quick shower. If he was lucky, he could get out before his mom left and that would mean he could have the car for the day. It was awful getting into a hot shower though and telling himself that he had to hurry up – He could stand under the jets of water for hours just thinking to himself. Just standing there. But not today. He really wanted the car.
After he hopped out, not entirely convinced he was completely clean, he put on some jeans and an old t-shirt, which he covered with his favorite hoodie. Socks. Check. Shoes. Check. He looked into the mirror and glanced at his reflection, placing his puffy hair meticulously so that it would fall just perfect as it dried throughout the day.
When he put the clothes in the dirty clothes hamper, he picked up his phone from the floor where he left it. A text message from Blaine, "I'm sorry Sammy, I wish I was there with you too."
Sam smiled back, "Don't walk to school. I'm coming to get you."
And he shoved his phone in his pocket, walked briskly into the kitchen with his backpack in tow just in time to find his mom grabbing the keys off a nail hanging on the door.
"Mom, wait," he said, "I'll take them."
She turned on her heel, "But you haven't even eaten…"
Sam grabbed a waffle off of the table, pulled his backpack on and pulled the keys from his mom's hands, "Thanks mom"
Before putting the waffle into his mouth he looked at his siblings, "C'mon brats, let's go."
His brother and sister cheered as they grabbed their backpacks next to the doorway as he strode over. His mom stood, leaning on the kitchen entryway, "I want the car back by five, so I can pick them up."
"Mom, Glee club, regionals tomorrow." He said, pleading in his eyes.
She rolled her eyes, "You're such a pain in my butt. Fine. I'll take your father to work."
Sam ran over to his mom and kissed her on the cheek, "Thanks mom, You're the best."
She smirked, "Mmhmmm, Tell Blaine I said hi."
His mom couldn't see his face turn red as he was walking out the door, but she was sure that she got the job done.
– – –
"Get in, loser, we're getting coffee."
Blaine smiled as he got in, "Wow, quoting Mean Girls… sort of."
"You know me," Sam said, before leaning over to kiss him, "I love movies almost more than I love you."
"Good grief, you never stop being corny do you?"
"Nope," Sam said.
Sam was happy to steal any time he could with Blaine. Even if it was just a half an hour before school, it was worth it to him. Blaine didn't seem to mind either. Blaine paid for coffee despite Sam's insistency that it was his idea. And they talked about their day and how practice was going to be brutal that evening.
Sam parked in the lot and they walked, hand in hand, together to the school – Since they had different first period they had to part in the hallways.
"If you can sneak it, text me… like a lot." Sam said.
A smile crawled across Blaine's face, "Fine – but don't get in trouble. We don't need detention the night before regionals."
Sam leaned in and kissed Blaine, despite Blaine leaning back just a bit instinctively. The kiss was just a peck but Sam and Blaine could feel the eyes on them from all angles. All Sam could do was smirk and turn around. They went to their classes and things remained mostly uneventful.
– – –
That is, until the break between 4th period English and lunch. As Sam walked down to the cafeteria, Quinn came at him from the opposite direction boring holes into his head with her eyes.
He wasn't sure what took a hold of him, maybe it was that regionals were tomorrow and he wanted a cohesive team, but he couldn't take it any longer. Sam strode across the hall and stopped directly in front of her.
"Ok Quinn," he said loudly, "I don't know what the hell your problem is, but I'm over your little death glares all the time"
Quinn simply stared at him.
"I mean it," he continued, "What the hell did I do to piss you off so much?"
"You really don't know?" Quinn said, narrowing her eyes, "All you did was fight off gay rumors when you got here. You barely said anything to me after you started dating Blaine. People talk, Sam, they think I was your beard."
Sam furrowed his brow in frustration, "And, what? You believe them?"
Quinn tilted her head, "You tell me, Sam, you're the one dating another man."
"I've been dating him for almost four months now. Why couldn't you have talked to me about this sooner?"
"So, you were using me…"
Sam dropped his anger in that moment. Instead he pulled her gently over to the side of the hallway, "No, Quinn."
Quinn looked shocked, narrowing her eyes in disbelief.
"It's true," Sam continued, "I really did care about you. I do care about you. And just because I'm with Blaine doesn't mean that my feelings for you were false."
Quinn exhaled, looking off to the side.
"Look, you can believe me or not," he went on, "But I can't handle you being mad at me for something I can't change."
Sam could see Quinn's resolve fade with that comment, "You could've told me you were gay."
Sam smiled, "Bisexual."
Quinn half smiled, "Bisexual, whatever. But you should've said something sooner."
"I told you as soon as I was ready that I wanted to date Blaine. I couldn't have told you anything sooner."
"Fine," Quinn said, lightening her voice, "But I'm still mad at you Sam Evans."
She clutched books to her chest and walked passed him, Sam turned around as she strode down the hall, "No you're not!"
Quinn responded without looking back, "Yes, I am!"
With a stupid grin on his face, Sam walked to the cafeteria to silence the grumbling coming from his stomach.
– – –
Practice was grueling. Sam didn't think they could go over the numbers any more before their legs would fall off and their lungs would collapse. It was nearly 8:45 when Schuester called it quits.
Sam was exhausted. All of New Directions was. After they were dismissed, Sam and Blaine walked quietly to the car. The conversation was slow and dragged on – not through any fault of their own, but since Sam was up since five he didn't feel anything but sleep want to overtake him. He kissed his boyfriend goodbye and drove home to loud music, so that he didn't fall asleep.
When he got home, he didn't bother with dinner, instead, going straight to his bedroom and slowly pulling on pajamas. When he went to plug the phone into the wall, he saw one text, from Blaine, "You forgot to say I love you… :P"
Sam mustered a grin and replied, "How silly of me, I love you."
And his face met the pillow.
