Thank you all for reading and reviewing. I have just finished my novel and now to write fanfiction. Someone asked if this was going to be a slow burn type story...I don't know but compared to what I usually write it is different lol There are times u will dislike Mercedes and times you'll dislike Sam...I am making them both full of flaws...hope you can handle it

Sam came out from his dressing room minutes later. Unlike the bride, he didn't need to spend hours changing. So he was back in the reception hall, drinking everything that went by him and chatting with the guest. He didn't know anyone there and they had no idea that Sam and Mercedes had only met moments ago. So every time they asked about how Sam met Mercedes or how he proposed, he would make up something on a whim. The whole thing was funny to him and he decided to make the best of it.

"She was getting her hair done and I was getting my hair washed." he said to one group then walked over to another group to tell another story. "She had a flat tire and I had a spare tire." he chugged another flute of champagne. "How did I propose?" he asked and laughed. "It's a funny story, really."

"What happened?" the woman asked as she watched him with anticipation.

"I proposed on April Fool's day. She was sleeping and I squeezed ketchup all over myself and spilled water on the floor before causing ruckus to wake her up. I wanted her to think I fell and hurt myself bad. She came running into the kitchen as I pretended to be hurt on the ground. She was minutes from calling 911 when I grabbed her hand and slipped the ring on her finger."

"That is so romantic." the woman said as Sam looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. Nothing about that was romantic but it was fun to tell it. He'd told so many versions of how he proposed that he started to tell the same group a new story. But before one of them could ask him about it, the lights dimmed causing Sam to turn.

"And now for a special presentation, Million Dollar Love would like to present...Ms. Mercedes Jones...well Mrs. Mercedes Evans-Jones, singing Never Knew I needed from the Princess and the Frog." Blaine Anderson said as a couple ballet dancers came out in glow in dark dresses. Sam was definitely impressed as he put his champagne flute down and paid attention to where the light was shining. Then a voice came out of nowhere that sent chills up his spine and he saw Mercedes step into the light.

"For the way you changed my plans." she started as her dress began to glow in green just like the ballet dancers. "For being the perfect distraction...for the way you took the idea that I have...of everything that I wanted to have...and made me see there was something missing..." she smiled as her eyes met with Sam's when she saw the shocked look in his.

"For the ending of my first begin...and for the rare and unexpected friend...for the way you're something that I'd never choose but at the same time, something I don't wanna lose and never wanna be without ever again..."she took a couple steps towards Sam and smiled when he looked around then smirked back at her before taking her hand.

"You're the best thing I never knew I needed...so when you were here I had no idea..." She guided Sam towards the middle of the dance floor as she continued to sing for him. "You're the best thing I never knew I needed...so now it's so clear, I need you here always." she continued singing it as the ballet dancers danced around them till she sang the last note. The room exploded with applause as she beamed with pride.

"And now for the couples first dance!" Blaine Anderson announced as everyone applauded Mercedes. Sam was still in shock as he took her other hand and brought her close.

"That was amazing." Sam exclaimed as he looked down at her. Mercedes blushed and continued to dance, trying her best to stare back at him lovingly when she didn't know a thing about him. She'd picture her first wedding dance multiple times and she never thought her husband would look anything like Sam. In all honesty, she'd always pictured marrying Anthony and becoming Mrs. Rasad but she was Mrs. Evans now and she had to play the part.

"Thanks, Sam."

"Seriously. You sound like..." he paused as he tried to think of an artist that she sang like then smiled at her and said: "Beyonce."

"Boy bye!" She giggled then stared back at his eyes as he looked down at her with his own gleaming. He was selling the love look and for a second there she overlooked the man bun mop he called his hair. They needed to pretend that they were in love. "Play the role, Mercedes!"she said to herself.

"I'd buy your album."

"Well, what I just sang will be on I-tunes tomorrow." she bragged as they continued to slow dance.

"I will be the first to buy it then." he said with a firm smile. "We gotta work together if we're going to get this money."

"I agree. We can't trust the short brunette over there." Mercedes said pointing discreetly over where Rachel was standing and staring at them with pride.

"Yeah, all we have to do is help each other. You can help me seem husbandly and I'll help you."

"Oh you'll help me, huh? How are you going to do that?" Mercedes chuckled as he spun her around then pulled her back to him. The room exploded with a applause again then grew quiet once more.

"Well, my lady, you know...I can help you with getting you to chill with your attitude problem." Sam said with a smile then frowned when she tried to let go of his hand.

"My attitude problem?" Mercedes asked as Sam held her hand a bit tighter to keep her from leaving or worse, slapping him. "I don't have an attitude problem."

"What do you call the attitude you're having right now?" he asked and smiled when she forced a smile on her face. "Look, I wasn't trying to offend you..."

"If we wanted to talk about things that needed help fixing, we could talk about that mop on your head."

"At least, it's all mine." he retorted and held her hand tighter again when she tried to snatch it away again.

"It's all mine. I paid for every inch of it." She responded then forced her smile again. "And if we're talking about attitudes, your whole hippy yolo attitude ain't the business either."

"It ain't the business 'cause it ain't your business." he said back mocking her.

"Did you just mock me?"

"Sure did." he smirked as she glared at him then pushed him slightly when he stepped on her foot.

"Can you watch your feet?"

"Not my fault that your feet are so long."

"Yo mama feet are too long!" she replied back then for the first time ever she saw that hippy yolo life smile that was always on his face fade away.

"Don't ever talk about my mother." he said to her between clinched teeth just as the song ended. She never thought that Sam was a mama's boy and for a second there she felt bad that she even said it.

After the reception

Mercedes wasn't sure how to get over Sam telling her that her attitude was a problem. Especially since Sam moped like a big baby the rest of the night. He wasn't his normal self when Rachel told them that they were heading to the airport right after the reception, heading to Fiji. Rachel immediately reminded us that we were to pretend to be honeymooners and the look of anger on both our faces wasn't helping.

"What's going on with you two? You were a picture of perfection on the dance floor earlier."

"Ask her." Sam grunted like a child. "She started it." he said glaring at Mercedes as she rolled her eyes.

"How old are you, five?"

"Okay you guys, cut it or there won't be a show." she reminded them. As much as Rachel didn't want them to last a year. She needed them to at least seem in love so that she would have a TV show. Ripping apart lovebirds was better than ripping apart enemies. "The cameramen will be recording your every move going forward now, so you need to at least try."

"I can only do so much." Sam mumbled as he pulled his hair loose then ran his hand through it. Mercedes looked at his hair and groaned. She was never going to get used to that moppy mess he called his hair.

"Alright, you two! I will see you both in Fiji." she said before they got on the plane. They sat on opposite ends of the small plane the entire flight glaring at each other then forced themselves into their roles of newly weds when they arrived in Fiji.

"So the newly weds have finally arrived in Fiji. Let's see what they have planned for their first night together." Blaine said with a bright smile as the camera caught them arriving at the hotel. "How does it feel to be here in Fiji as newly weds?" he asked as he pointed the mic at Mercedes.

"We are so excited. Hubby here snored the entire way here." Mercedes said as she wrapped her arms around Sam and gave him a pat on his chest.

"Yeah, babe, but don't forget you drooled on me for second there too." Sam smiled then flinched when Mercedes gave him a harder pat.

"Awww...look at the two lovebirds. They can't keep their hands off each other." Blaine smiled. "We'll let the two love birds go enjoy their night as tomorrow they have a long day planned of exploring the Fiji island."

The minute they made it to their room they immediately went in opposite directions. Mercedes went to take a shower and Sam got himself a beer, took a sip before placing it on the edge of the window, then relaxed on the bed before falling asleep again. When Mercedes got out of the shower she couldn't help smiling at him lightly snoring on the bed. He actually looked cute when he was sleeping.

"I can feel you staring at me." he said with his eyes closed. She suddenly felt embarrassed and walked over to her luggage.

"I was not staring at you." she replied as she pulled out her nightgown. Sam slowly opened his eyes and looked over to where she was looking at the nightgown then behind her where a cameraman was standing and sat up.

"Look, I get it. I'm a hottie. I'd stare at me too." he chuckled then ran his hand through his hair. "Did you leave any hot water for me?" he asked and shook his head when she shrugged.

"I don't know...take a cold shower." she mumbled then laughed at her response. He glared at her then disappeared in the bathroom. Minutes later she heard the shower running and then Sam singing off key. She walked into the closet and put on her nightgown before coming out.

She got into bed and pulled out her cellphone to see what she had miss so far. She noticed a picture of Anthony with his girlfriend announcing that they had decided to move in together. Mercedes felt her heart drop to her stomach as she clicked on the girl's page and saw all the selfies she had. She was pretty and under her picture had a lot of comments but none were from Anthony. She smiled then angled the camera on her face and took a selfie before cropping out the cameraman that was appearing in the far corner. The minute she posted the picture and tossed it in the corner her phone binged notifying her of a message. She looked at the notification and saw Anthony commented under her picture and then minutes later he DM'd her.

"Hey beautiful." he said and she immediately felt her heart do a somersault. She looked over at the cameraman turned off the phone. She wanted badly to respond to the message but instead she tossed the phone under her pillow and lied down staring out the window when she noticed the beer bottle Sam was drinking sitting on the window. The bottle just reminded her of the nights she'd spent cleaning up after Anthony. One of the things they argued about and she refused to do it again. She wasn't going to clean up after a grown man.

Sam came out of the shower feeling a bit calmer than he did when he first went in. He decided that he would apologize to Mercedes about saying she had an attitude. He wanted to tell her that he really just wanted to make sure they won that money. When he got out Mercedes was sitting on the edge of the bed with a bottle of beer. He smiled at her and continued to dry his hair with his towel.

"Getting drunk without me?" he asked before tossing the towel on the ground then walking over to his luggage then dragging it to the opposite side of the room. He didn't notice Mercedes glaring at him as he sifted through his luggage and tossed things about the room. "What's wrong with you?" he asked when he suddenly noticed her glaring.

"Can we talk?" she asked as she got up and started picking up the things he threw around.

"Uh...yeah...I was thinking about talking to you about what happened earlier." he said then paused when he noticed her picking up his things. "I...wanted to...say sorry..." he watched as she picked everything up then finally asked: "What are you doing?"

"Cleaning up after a grown ass man, it seems." she replied then walked over to his luggage and put his things back in.

"I didn't ask you to pick it up."

"Look, just please pick up after yourself then I won't have to."

"Whatever." he mumbled before jumping into his shorts then unwrapping the towel from around his waist and tossing it on the bed.

"That's wet, Sam, put it in the bathroom."

"If it's bothering you then you put it in there."

"Get your mother to do it!" Mercedes responded then immediately regret it when Sam glared at her. "Sam...I'm..." she tried to apologize but Sam was already stomping out of the room and into the living room of the suite. Mercedes sighed knowing that she was in the wrong. Maybe he was right about her attitude issue and hated that she had to admit she was wrong. He was sensitive about his mother and she was as well so they had that in common. She would be just as mad if he said anything about her. She knew she had to apologize. She finally followed him to the living room, where he was already pretending to watch something on the TV. "Sam...I'm sorry. You asked me to stop it with the mother thing. I should respect that."

"Whatever." he replied as he changed the channel. He felt Mercedes sitting next to him before he turned off the TV and placed the remote down. Then placed his head in his hands as if he was wiping away tears. She prayed that she didn't make him cry.

"Seriously, I have a bad habit of saying yo mama to everything. I don't know your mother and I shouldn't keep bringing her up every time we have a disagreement." she waited for him to lift his before she added something that she thought would make him laugh. "And I guess I might have a slight attitude problem...or whatever..."

"Slight?" he asked as he looked over at her then smiled when she shoved him lightly.

"Don't get beat up in front of the entire nation." she poked his side then chuckled when he poked her back a couple times under her ribs. "Hey stop that I'm ticklish." she whined and jumped up to avoid his finger from poking her again. Sam got up and walked towards her then laughed when she ran to the room. Sam ran after her and caught her before she could get to the bed. He tickled her till she fell on the bed laughing as Sam fell on top of her. He stopped suddenly and just stared at her as she giggled. Her laugh was really addictive. He almost wanted her to never stop laughing.

"Sam, you're staring at me." she said as she nervous wormed herself from under him then got up and made her way to the other side of the bed. She got under the covers before grabbing a book to read before bed.

"Sorry." Sam apologized then sat up and looked over at her. "I'll try to clean up after myself a bit more." he said as he grabbed his luggage and took it into the closet of the room.

"Thanks...I'll watch my attitude."

Rachel watched the playback of the days recording and smiled. This was TV gold. Sam and Mercedes were addictive to watch. She couldn't stop replaying their last few minutes after their argument. She almost thought she was going to have to run over and play referee for a minute but then they fixed it themselves. She had a fun day planned for the couple and couldn't wait to see it play out. She wanted Sam and Mercedes to fall in love so that she could pull them apart. And there was no way they could end up not loving each other after the romantic day she had planned.