The bright eyed, blonde haired man sat comfortably on his living room floor surrounded by piles of his favourite comic books. He had brought them with him, all the way from his family home in sunny California, three years before when he had moved into his University residence on a cool fall day one September. The sketchbook that was propped up on his knee began to fall as he found himself lost in thought. He finally noticed it when it knocked his hand on its way down to the ground and he picked it up with a soft sigh as he continued to finish up the comic strip panel he was working on. Sam had been in love with comic books for as long as he could remember.
The idea of people, who looked ordinary but were actually extraordinarily different from everyone else, always resonated with him to an extremely deep level. He knew that many people didn't realise that he was deaf when they first met him and their reactions varied from pity to complete and utter fascination. As he grew up, he learned to embrace his differences and instead he began to view them as unique superhero-like abilities. The fact that he was able to read lips quite well always amazed people considering that many other people who were deaf often found it difficult to do. He also had a heightened sense of smell which could be considered a curse or a blessing depending on where he was, for instance, he was currently in his apartment #409B but he could smell his neighbours smoking weed in the apartment two floors above him. Puck had told him to tell him when they were toking up so that he could crash and join them, but Sam thought better of it and kept his hands shut.
His tongue stuck out from the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on his art and finished up drawing the hearing aid in his heroine's ear. His character, Mona, was based off of a girl he had met during a festival that was held for the Deaf community back in California when he had been 14. From a hormonal teenaged Sam's perspective, she was the most beautiful girl that had ever existed. The pair had spent the entire day together, signing away like mad men, and at the end of it he had scored her email. They messaged each other frequently over the next few months, but as time dragged on, they had ended up drifting apart.
He stared at his drawing and grinned as he thought about her. Sometimes he wondered if he ever got his comic books published, if she would recognize herself within them. He was still thinking about it when a large and heavy hand landed on his shoulder, startling him in the process. Sam looked up into Puck's hazel eyes and smiled warmly at his best friend who was gently pushing the comic books to the side so that he could plop down on the ground. The blonde brushed his hair out of his eyes, placed his sketchbook on the ground, and tucked his pencil behind his ear.
What's up? Sam signed to Puck who looked a little off to him for some reason. Puck shrugged and scratched the shaved side of his head, a habit he always had for as long as Sam had known him. He usually did it when he was upset by something or agitated, usually it was both, but the blonde knew better than to push his friend when he got into those types of moods. Instead he rubbed his hands together and grabbed a comic book from one of the piles, that he thought the tanned skin man might have enjoyed. He handed it over to him to look at. Puck stared at it for a moment before thumbing his way through the pages and then looked up at the blonde across from him.
People are messing with Jake. I might have to go home and deal with them. Puck signed quickly and shook his head. I'm pretty sure it's because he had to switch schools this year and the kids at his new school are crazy, they don't know how to deal with a kid who's deaf. Sam frowned as memories flooded back to his own experiences dealing with individuals who had treated him badly because of his exceptionality. Prior to high school, Sam had been homeschooled by his parents his entire academic career. But it came to a point where he felt like he needed to get out and make some friends, so he begged his parents to send him to a real high school with kids other than his siblings. They finally agreed and Sam was on his way to a bittersweet experience. Before he could slip back into the negative mindset that he had worked so hard to overcome, he shook his head to refocus his thoughts back to Puck.
Do you want me to talk to him? Sam asked which caused Puck to scowl, the blonde sighed, You can't fly all the way back home, especially not to fight with a bunch of teenagers. Puck rolled his eyes and Sam could see him mutter something under his breath. He touched his friend's foot to get his attention. You know I'm right jerk. I can talk to some of my friends and have them check in with him. Puck folded his arms across his chest in defiance. Listen, Big John might be deaf, but he's the size of a house and if he goes over there, they might leave Jake alone. Puck stared at Sam for a few moments before he slowly nodded and mouthed the word fine. The green eyed man smiled and then playfully punched Puck's foot, which caused him to give a small smile. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, as they focused on their own thoughts, until Puck flung a comic at Sam's chest like a Frisbee which earned him a green eyed glare.
He ran his hand through his Mohawk with a mischievous smile and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his roommate. So, what happened with you and the sexy queen after I left the library? Sam rolled his eyes and picked up his sketchbook.
Nothing. Sam signed with a non-committal shrug and then bit the end of his pencil, Well I asked her to get some drinks with me on Friday, but that was it. Puck wiggled his eyebrows up and down as he grinned at his friend which caused Sam to quietly laugh. It's not like that.
It's not like what? Puck teased.
It's not a date or something. Sam shrugged again and absent mindedly added a detail to his drawing. Women like her don't think of men like me like that. They more see the friendship thing and I'm happy with that. It makes life less ...complicated. He signed hesitantly as he actually gave the situation some thought. It didn't bother him to think that Mercedes would only want to be friends. To him it made logical sense for their friendship to go that way considering that in his world, hearing girls didn't necessarily jump at the chance to date boys who were deaf. It was an entire culture that they usually didn't understand and were rarely willing to even try to understand it.
Whatever man, you asked that beautiful woman out for drinks. Sounds like a date to me. A sexy date more like it. Sam watched Puck laugh and quickly threw his pencil at him, nailing him right in the forehead. Puck laughed even harder and continued to sign that it was a date no matter what Sam thought it was.
It's not a date, Mercedes doesn't even look at me like that. Actually, you should come. I think you two would hit it off or whatever. And there will be booze which you love more than your hair.
Puck shook his head and his eyes widened. First of all, that's racist for assuming we would hit it off because we both can hear and second of all, I'm after another hot mama's heart. Fourthly, I'm not crashing your date. Sam narrowed his eyes and shook his head.
It's not a date. Just grabbing a drink.
Tomato, potato man. Two different names, but you still eat both.
Sam laughed and signed, you don't like tomatoes. He ducked as a comic whizzed by his head at an insane speed.
Embrace the date and her... Puck stood up and pointed to his ass with a smile before he walked by Sam, ruffled the blonde hair, and slipped away into his bedroom. Sam sat their grinning as he tried to fix his hair and he couldn't help the wide smile that spread across his lips as he looked down at his vibrating cell indicating that he had just received a text from Mercedes.
"No dad, I'm not pregnant." Mercedes sighed as she stared glassy eyed at her father who had planned a Skype date with her every Friday until she graduated from University. He felt that the devil took over on Friday nights and he figured that if he could get there first, then Mercedes would stand a chance in the bustling city. "And so what if I was, you'd be a really blessed grandfather." She smiled smugly.
"Do I look like a grandfather? Hell people think I'm still your younger brother when we go to church, yes they do. They say 'look at that attractive young man, I cannot believe he has two daughters older than eighteen, AND a grandbaby', he looks fifteen they say. Shoo, they call me 'all about the Benjamin's Button', praise Jesus!" Her father said from his side of the screen with a wide smile and Mercedes couldn't help the laugh that escaped from her. "You laugh but it's the truth, I am beating these church women off with sticks doused in holy water. They ask me about my handcuffs and whatnots and I tell them that they can commit a crime just like everyone else if they want to experience them." Mercedes laughed harder and then gave her father a serious stare.
"First off, you're already a grandfather, so accept your role and why don't you go on a date or something with one of those women? They've always been really friendly and always helped take care of Serena and me growing up, maybe it's time that...you put yourself out there 'Benjamin.'" She said the name with a smirk and her father shook his head and sipped on a glass of beer.
"The only ladies that I need in my life are you, your sister, and Bella. You know, let me rethink that, all I need is Bella. The other day I was babysitting her, and I swear to you I took my eyes off of her for two minutes and the child ended up down the street at the library like god damned Matilda. Now you explain to me how something like that could have happened." He laughed and sipped more of his beer.
"Maybe you should lay off the beer dad, you're beginning to sound crazy."
"Okay maybe it wasn't the library, but she did end up climbing into the closet. Good thing her diaper needed changing or I wouldn't have found her if I couldn't smell her stinky behind from across the apartment. POTENT stuff, I need to talk to your sister and figure out if she's feeding her human food, because that smell wasn't right." He rubbed his bald head which had a familiar shine.
"Stop losing Bella and get out and meet some people. On your off days, you're cooped up at home watching reruns of In Living Color." She tugged on the bottom of her old T-shirt as she spoke to him. He had loved her adoptive mother with everything he could and she understood that a love like that couldn't be replaced, but she thought that it was in his best interest to get out and meet some more people, make friends outside of the force.
"I meet new people every day! Yesterday I met a one legged prostitute who believed he was Michael Jackson's fourth child. The man tried to do the moonwalk for me..."He stared at her. "And I was impressed. So on my off days, I like to just be alone, in my drawers, watching my shows, and making sure that you're not getting involved with the wrong crowds."
Mercedes smiled. "I'm hanging out with really nice people. Actually, I'm going to hang out with some tonight."
"Mhm." Her father cocked his head to the side. "And what are their names?" Even through a computer screen the man was intimidating. She forced herself to look confident and smiled.
"Melanie C, Emma, Victoria, Melanie B, and Geri. They're really fun and a very spicy group of young women for sure, but extremely responsible at the same time so you don't have to worry about a thing." He narrowed his eyes for a moment and then smiled.
"Alright, well be safe and call me if something happens, I don't care what time. You just call me and let me know and I'll make a few calls for you. I love you alright and don't do anything crazy and stay away from people with penises, you're not ready for all of that."
"I'm 21." She raised an eyebrow.
"Shoo, I thought you were 22, in that case you are way too young for all of that." He gave her a serious stern look and she wished she could have seen his face if she had told him the truth that she was going on a date, or whatever it was with Sam. She didn't want to get her hopes up that it was more than a friend's get together, but she couldn't help smiling as she created multiple scenarios of how things might have went that night. Sometimes she imagined them going out on to a veranda where it was windy and cold, then Sam would drape his coat around her shoulders and silently hold her against his chest. Other times, she imagined herself being able to sign fluently with him, and he would just continue to laugh at her jokes. Her face became slightly flushed as the ideas came back to her and she noticed that her dad was giving her a curious stare down.
"Alright dad, I have to go get ready, and you have to go...do whatever it is you enjoy doing over there." She said quickly so that he wouldn't notice her previous look. He looked like he had something to say, but then he thought better of it and smiled.
"Alright, just remember that if you wear something revealing make sure to bring your mace with you too. I love you and be safe! Stay with those girls and come up with a meeting spot like the women's bathroom or something or figure out a code if a guy keeps hitting on you. My favourite code is kick him in the balls, so feel free to use that one." He laughed and she smiled back.
"Thanks dad, I love you too." With that, she signed out of the Skype conversation, stood up, and stared at her open closet. She had her date clothes and then she had her hanging out clothes, but she wasn't sure what she would wear. A pair of leggings, a long stripped V-neck loose top, and a leather jacket was what she finally settled on to get some drinks with Sam. It wasn't exactly the sexy outfit she had pictured in her mind, but she assumed that it could work well enough. She was putting on the final touches to her makeup when she heard Santana's loud voice drift through the apartment.
"Who are you?!" Mercedes ran out of the bathroom in a panic and spotted an annoyed looking Santana peering through a cracked open front door. "Staring at me does not explain who you are and why you're on my doorstep. Oh now you're going to be all rude and text on your cellphone? Nope, not here for that."
"Santana! Wait." Mercedes yelled as she got closer to the door before Santana closed it. She peered out and saw the top of Sam's head as he texted quickly into his phone. Her pocket began to vibrate with his new message and then he looked up to see her staring back at him. He grinned at her and Mercedes pushed her roommate out of the way and opened the door for him. "Hey Sam." She said as he slipped into her apartment, he waved at her, and then shoved his hands into his jean pockets. She looked him over and couldn't help the heat that crept up her neck as she noticed how well his jeans fit his muscular legs and how his black v neck clung to his body, outlining his fit shape. When her eyes reached his face, she saw that he was looking her over at the same time, and she couldn't help the smile that graced her lips.
"Oh you know him?" Santana folded her arms over her chest. "You could at least get some friends who aren't rude as hell." She rolled her eyes at the pair. Sam stared at Santana's mouth as she spoke and his eyebrows rose up.
What? He signed quickly to Mercedes and she couldn't help but shake her head in annoyance.
She pointed to Santana and then brought her finger up by her temple and made some circular motions, She's crazy, sorry. Sam nodded knowingly and smiled.
"Hold up, he's part of your gang?" Santana took a step back and eyed Sam down. Mercedes was tired of dealing with the woman and had enough of her stupidity.
"I'm not in a gang you jackass." She was about to give her a piece of her mind when Santana interrupted her.
"Oh! Then he's deaf." Mercedes stared at her with one eye squinted and the other widened. "That's all you had to say, no need to make it all about you and your insults Aretha." Sam held out his phone to Mercedes and she shook her head immediately once she read the message he had typed on there. He gave her an odd look and she got worried that he would think she was being rude. With a sigh, she looked at her roommate who was unfortunately still standing there and took a deep breath before forcing herself to ask the dreaded question.
"We're going for drinks...do you want to come with us?" Santana raised an eyebrow and looked at Sam who was smiling at her and then at Mercedes who was scowling.
"Are you going to try to drag me into a threesome, because I've never done it with a deaf dude before so I don't know how that all works and stuff? You know what I mean, plus I'd be scared that you'd get emotionally and sexually attracted to me which I don't think either of you could handle to be honest." Mercedes' mouth dropped open and Sam began to silently laugh with small bursts of snorts as he had read her lips and understood most of what she had said to them.
"No! We're just going for drinks and neither of us is interested in doing you thanks." She was more speaking for herself but she hoped that Sam felt the same way and was not interested in getting into Santana's pants. Mercedes silently prayed that Santana would state that she was more important than them and would decline Sam's invitation.
"Well least I know that he won't bore me with conversation and those lips look good enough to suck on if I get drunk enough. So yea, give me ten minutes." She spun on her heels and quickly made her way into her bedroom. Mercedes slowly looked at Sam and noticed that his face had turned red from blushing. He quickly looked over at her and shrugged before he made his way over to one of their couches. She slowly sat down beside him, leaving space between them, and fought the urge to cry. She was mad at herself for building things up in her mind when Sam obviously didn't feel the same way about her, or else he wouldn't have invited her evil roommate with them. His phone made its way to her lap and she looked down at it with blurred eyes.
You smell really good Mercedes.
Taking a deep breath and hoping that her eyes didn't look red, she looked up at him and smiled. Thank you Sam. He smiled and glanced at her from under his eyelashes before he nodded. Santana walked out of her bedroom wearing a skin tight black mini dress and black pumps with red bottoms. Mercedes narrowed her eyes at the other woman.
"We're going to get drinks, not going to a club." Santana shrugged and shoved some items into her clutch purse.
"Listen, I dress to look good and just because you don't seem to care about getting laid, doesn't mean that I don't have to." Mercedes quickly looked over at Sam and was happy that he was busy texting instead of paying attention to the conversation that was happening between the roommates. She quickly stood up and grabbed her coat from the arm of the other couch in the living room. In her frustration she struggled to slip the item on and was startled when she felt strong arms holding hers to stop moving. She looked back to see Sam looking down at her coat as he helped her pull the sleeves up her arms. When she was finished, he turned her around and made sure the coat was properly on her before his green eyes found her brown ones. They stood there staring at each other as his hands absentmindedly rubbed her jacket covered arms. "Yo, big lips and Chaka!" Mercedes jumped back from Sam and he looked at her in confusion as he had not heard Santana's comment.
"Don't call him that." She all but growled at the leggy Latina woman. "His name is Sam." Santana started to laugh and shook her head.
"I'll call him whatever I want to Aretha, calm your large sized tits. He can't even hear me call him that."
"Which makes it even ruder that you're calling him that without him knowing that you're saying it to him." Mercedes clenched her hands into two fists. Sam watched the interaction with an amused expression. Santana stared hard at Mercedes and then typed something quickly into her phone before she handed it to Sam without ever taking her eyes away from the shorter woman. Sam looked at the message and silently laughed and gave her a quick nod with a smile. Santana rolled her eyes at Mercedes and walked out of the apartment. They stood there staring after her for a few seconds before Sam took Mercedes hand and wrote out 'Trouty lips? That's a new one.' When she looked at his face, he seemed entirely cool and collected, whereas she was fuming at the name. She forced a small smile before they followed Santana's lead and found her downstairs trying to hail a cab.
She looked over her shoulder and shrugged. "It's about time, ebony and ivory." They slipped into the cab and headed off to the bar that Sam had texted to Mercedes. It was a nice lively place that resembled a country bar but was playing more upbeat music. Santana looked extremely out of place, but she didn't care too much about that as random men constantly sent drinks to their table for her. "Now this is my kind of place!" She said happily as she sipped down the various colorful drinks. Sam sucked down a Heineken and Mercedes drank her rum and coke. When they had gotten to the bar, Mercedes had been worried about how Sam was going to place his orders, but he simply wrote down what he wanted on his phone and slipped it to the bartender. It was such a simple action and she was surprised that she hadn't even thought about it herself. "You guys are boring me, I'm going to go mingle with that guy." She pointed to a guy who was eyeing her down from the bar and walked away.
Sam had understood the gist of what she had said and then moved to Santana's seat so that he was across from Mercedes instead of sitting beside her.
How she and that I like but...what the and its okay. He signed quickly to her before he finished drinking his beer. Mercedes pretended to understand what he had signed to her, but she realised that she had a lot to learn in terms of sign language. Sam looked around for a few moments before his eyes settled on her and he smiled. She smiled back and let her eyes wander down to his V-neck which had tugged down a bit since they had gotten to the bar. She was surprised to see a few tattooed Chinese characters peeking through the corners of the V cut and was about to ask him what they meant when Sam began to wave. She turned around and watched Puck walk up to them with a bottle of beer clasped tightly in his hand. He signed hello to the both of them and then took a seat beside Mercedes.
"Hey there sexy lady." He winked at her and sucked on his beer.
"What a small world that we just randomly bumped into you here." She laughed as she finished off her drink. Her eyes looked around to make sure that Tina wasn't about to randomly pop out of nowhere too.
He laughed and fist pumped Sam. "Not really, Sam said a friend of yours came, so he invited me to come too." Mercedes looked over at Sam in confusion, but he didn't notice the expression as he finished off his drink and stared at the bar. She followed his gaze to see him looking at Santana and her heart felt like someone was squeezing it.
"Oh...can I have some of your beer? Thanks." She replied without waiting for Puck to answer as she chugged back his beer, much to his amazement. Sam suddenly stood up and walked over to Santana at the bar. Mercedes couldn't handle it and pulled Puck up to dance with her on the crowded dance floor. She was extremely confused about what was going on and everything that she had hoped would happen for the night, seemed like it wouldn't happen.
"Woah mama, you are one fast lady." He laughed as they moved quickly to the upbeat music.
"Yea, I just really wanted to get moving to this song. It's my favorite for sure." She lied as she danced her frustration away. A part of her wondered why Sam had even invited her to get drinks when he obviously didn't even want to be alone with her. He invited her roommate and then he invited his best friend to come too, which made absolutely no sense to her. If she hadn't seen how he was looking at Santana, she might have assumed that maybe he had invited Puck for her roommate so that he could be alone with Mercedes. But she highly doubted that now. Puck began to wave his hands in front of her face and she looked up at him.
"You okay sweet lips? You seem a little distracted or something." He said with sincere concern.
"No, I'm awesome." She forced a smile and looked back towards the bar to see that the pair was gone.
"Okay good, because I wanted to ask you something." Puck put his hands around her waist and brought her closer against his body. A slight gasp escaped her lips as they moved against each other.
"Uh, sure go ahead. Shoot away." She laughed awkwardly as they swayed together to the music.
"Do you, you know, have a thing for my bro Sam?" His hazel eyes held hers for a moment as she thought about his question. It was a question she had avoided asking herself so that she didn't fall for a guy that she wasn't even sure really wanted her. She couldn't do that again to herself. Suddenly a warm hand touched her shoulder and she looked over to see Sam grinning at her while he danced beside them with Santana.
"I couldn't resist his trouty charm I guess." She laughed as she wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck. Mercedes could already tell that the other woman had drunk too much already with how sluggish her body was moving. She narrowed her eyes at Sam's hands on her hips and then looked back at Puck who was smiling at the other pair.
"No. I definitely don't and I have to go sorry." She pulled out of his hold, gave Sam and Santana a quick wave, before she quickly made her way out of the bar and on to the bustling sidewalk. Wiping away the tears that had been building up within her, she pulled out her phone and called the only person in the world she that she wanted to speak to at the moment. She hopped into one of the cabs that were lined along the street and barked out her address.
A groggy and tired voice answered the phone. "Cedes?" Just hearing his voice made her cry even harder. "Cedes, what's happening, what's wrong?"
His concern finally broke the leaking dam as she cried harder because of the disappointment of the night she had. "Mike, I wish you were here right now." She cried into the phone as the cab driver looked at her through his rear-view mirror. "I really, really do."
A/N: There's chapter 4 folks! It was longer yay! I really appreciate the reviews and I secretly dance for each one, so I'd love for them to continue coming my way if you have the time, I want to know what you think is going to happen, how you feel about the characters, etc. I would like to thank JG for everything as usual and I want to thank you guys for reading, following, and liking it.