A/N: So, I got a review from browncoat, who raised a really good point. There was a big jump to Sectionals. So here's me filling the gap :) The next three chapters are for you, browncoat.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, story-alerted or favourited :D. Special thanks to Adatrix, Average Everyday Sane Psycho, gigundoly, and .Gleek,
Mercedes Jones blamed Rachel Berry. Although this was probably unfair, Rachel was irritating, and so she blamed her anyway.
Now she thought about it, however, it was probably more the fault of Puck, or even Santana; those two had brought the majority of the alcohol. Regardless, Mercedes was now getting very frustrated; a drunk Tina was like Brittany on vitamin D.
It all started when Rachel, sensing the tension between certain members of the club (not mentioning any names, but Artie and Tina, Finn and Kurt, Puck and Quinn,), decided that they all needed to work together more. Despite the fact that they had all come together to sing to Quinn and Finn, Rachel announced that she was disappointed in them all (Mercedes had just rolled her eyes) and had said that she was having a compulsory Glee party at her house. She assigned them all tasks and, in a complete lapse of judgment on Rachel's part, Puck had been put in charge of drinks.
Mercedes didn't know what had taken over Rachel's brain when she had made that decision, but understood better when neither Puck nor Santana made a fuss about attending the party because there would be alcohol. Mercedes herself had decided not to drink. Tina, apparently, had not.
It had been just over two weeks since her fight with Artie, and not being his friend had taken its toll on her. Even Puck had noticed something was up; and the two seemed to bond over their sadnesses. When Mercedes sat down on Rachel's sofa after a dance with Kurt, she was surprised to see them talking, laughing and then Puck handing Tina a drink. Clearly not her first one, either.
As the evening passed, pizza was ordered and eaten, and everybody took to the area that Rachel had decided was the dance floor. Mercedes kept one eye on Tina. She was acting... different. And when Mercedes got close enough to smell her breath, she realised why.
Puck approached them as Tina started to tell Mercedes that she really liked the song playing, saying "Do you guys want a drink?" While Tina nodded, Mercedes shook her head, saying "Tina, you've probably had enough." Tina pouted, and started to stand up to follow Puck.
Mercedes' first plan of attack was distraction.
"Tina, want to dance? Look, Britt's over there." She pulled Tina to her feet with difficulty; Tina was giggling hysterically.
"Brittany!" She yelled across the room. Brittany looked up from where she was dancing with Santana, and Tina called out, "Want to dance?" Kurt raised his eyebrows at the slurring of Tina's words into one jumbled one and Artie glared at Puck (not that Puck noticed, his eyes seemed to be focused on Tina) as he followed Tina onto Rachel's 'dance-floor.'
Although Tina started off dancing with Santana and Brittany, losing her balance once or twice, Puck was definitely trying to get her to dance with him. He finally succeeded, and she seemed to be okay with dancing with him for a little bit. Quinn was seated next to Artie now, her hand in Finn's and watching Puck and Tina with interest.
When Tina tried to pull away, however; Mercedes heard Puck say, "Oh, come on, just one more song," and grabbed her arms.
"Puck, leave her alone." Artie had wheeled up beside them.
"What? She's single, Wheels." Puck said. Tina looked from him to Artie.
"She doesn't want to dance." Artie's quiet but firm voice was filled with anger. Puck let her go almost immediately; and Tina, who had been pushing against his chest, fell off balance, falling ungracefully into Mercedes. Artie looked at Puck as though he would very much like to break his toes like Truscott's; and Puck, not surprisingly, moved away, heading to where Rachel was refilling a bowl of chips.
Tina giggled, wrapping an arm around Mercedes and proclaiming, "I love you Mercedes, and I love your earrings, and your top, and your jeans..."
"Thanks, Tina." Mercedes said, slightly bemused. Santana was watching Tina with amusement.
"I think it's time to go home." Artie said, glaring at Puck's retreating back. Tina looked at him.
"Why?" She asked. "It's only..." Tina stared at the clock, wondering why the hands weren't keeping still. "Mercedes." She whispered.
"Tina?" Mercedes whispered back.
"I think I forgot how to read the clock." Tina whispered. Quinn couldn't help but giggle.
"Don't worry." Brittany whispered to Tina. "I can't read it either."
"Why are we whispering?" Mike whispered too, entering from the kitchen with a slice of (now cold – they'd ordered it over two hours ago) pizza.
"Mike!" Tina yelled happily, tugging on his hand. Mike shared a glance with Mercedes, his eyebrows raised. "Because we can! We can run and jump and skip and shout. But we can whisper too." She lowered her voice. "Like this!"
"Tina, how much have you had to drink?" Mike asked.
"Oh, a couple..." Mike lost track of her sentence because the last few words jumbled together.
"I'll take her home." Artie said from behind Mercedes. Mercedes thought about this. Although Artie and Tina definitely had not made much (any) progress on repairing their friendship, this could definitely help them to do so. And they needed to sort it out, because eating lunch with just three people was weird. They were always missing the fourth member of their little group; whether it was Artie avoiding Tina, or Tina avoiding Artie. That and the fact that it was clearly hurting both of them.
"How were you planning to go home originally?" Mercedes asked.
"Well, I was planning on getting my dad to get me." Artie said. "I don't know what Tina was planning. I don't know how I'm going to explain this to her parents."
"I was going to give her a lift." Mike said, "Her parents are out of town."
"Kurt and I can drive you." Mercedes said. Artie seemed to relax slightly at the news that nobody was going to be answering the questions of Tina's parents tonight. "Your dad will ask some serious questions when he sees that one." She pointed her thumb in Tina's direction.
After grabbing Kurt from his conversation with Quinn and Finn, they loaded a fairly-cooperative Tina into the back of Kurt's car. Mercedes definitely noticed how Brittany-like Tina was when drunk. She kept up a steady stream of commentary, half of it completely nonsensical, and burst into bouts of random giggles. Mercedes rode next to Tina in the back, and saw Artie's face from the front passenger seat in the review mirror. His facial expression, apart from a little weary, was blank.
As they pulled up in front of Tina's house, Tina became more and more uncooperative.
"But I don't want to." She said, as Mercedes tried to tug her out of the car.
"Tina, come inside, okay?" Artie's voice was tired, and Mercedes realised that this was possibly the first time he had spoken to her since their fight. Tina tilted her head to the side as if examining him, before saying, "Okay!" and attempting to jump from the back of Kurt's car. She stumbled into Kurt on the pavement, giggling madly again, before skipping (well, kind-of skipping) up the path to her front door. They followed her, Kurt shaking his head as Tina started singing, completely off-key.
"Follow the yellow brick road!"
"There's a spare key under the pot plant." Artie said to Mercedes as they got to her front door. Tina spun his chair around in a circle, still singing. "Tina, can you stop that please?" Artie said. Kurt took pity and pulled Tina's arm to get her to move inside. As they got into the living room, Mercedes turned on the lights, pushing Tina gently to sit on the couch. Artie went into the kitchen with Kurt, and emerged a few minutes later with water for Tina.
As they all took seats on the couch and watched Tina warily, Mercedes realised just how tired she was. She was glad that Tina had accepted the water without any fuss, drinking it in almost one gulp. She now seemed to be content to just sit quietly. Mercedes should have realised that she was too quiet.
Tina began to look dazed, and Kurt saw the look of nausea that passed across her face. He called out, "She's going to barf!" Mercedes immediately pushed her towards the kitchen, but Tina didn't make it to the sink.
They handled the situation quite well, Mercedes thought. As Mercedes mopped up a now groaning Tina, Kurt took care of the floor, muttering, "She owes me," and something about Gucci and Alexander McQueen. Artie emerged in the kitchen with a pile of clothes in his lap, saying to Mercedes, "Here are her pyjamas."
She would have congratulated them all on their pretty awesome teamwork, but realising that now was probably not the best time, Mercedes instead pulled Tina into the downstairs bathroom and helped her change. Tina was now cooperating fully, albeit looking slightly green.
This time, Mercedes got her to the toilet, pulling her hair away from her face as she retched.
Yes, Tina definitely owed them.
