* As always I want to thank you all for the response. I sincerely hope this fic lives up to expectations. Now I feel I should warn you, so here goes: For anyone who has not seen The Notebook, then please read at your own peril. There are spoilers within this chapter. But nonetheless it is up to you! Further; yup you guys were right about my frustration in the last chapter. It actually was a coincidence. Once I actually googled the movie (No I haven't seen in, in fact I have not seen the majority of the films I mention in the fic) I discovered the RM connection. Neat huh? Funny how things work out like that. Guess the universe ships Samcedes too! :) Anyway I don't own Glee or it's characters or any other character mentioned within this chapter from another Movie/book/comic/Tvshow. But above all as ever ENJOY*
Chapter 8: Tuesday
For Sam, Tuesday evening couldn't get here fast enough. He had been out on location working all day with Claire, so hardly saw Mercy, aside from in the morning, when he had bumped into her in the kitchen-as punctual as ever she was making herself coffee at 10.25am.
"Hey, Mercy"
Mercy who was busy stirring her coffee, hadn't heard Sam, so he walked right up to her drawing in nearer to her ear and whispered
"Hello"
"What the h...SAM"
Mercy had spun round really fast holding her spoon up high in defence ready to attack whichever lunatic that had just scared her out of her skin.
"Woah, sorry, you were too busy stirring that you didn't hear me say hi,"
"Jeez Sam!"
Placing the spoon down Mercy steadied herself against the kitchen counter.
"Yeah sorry,"
He genuinely looked apologetic, Mercy relaxed.
"But honestly, how much damage were you expecting to cause with a spoon?"
Sam was grinning at Mercy now, who in turn narrowed her eyes.
"Oh I don't need any kind of weapon, my bare hands are enough. And if you're smart Sammy, you wouldn't want to test that theory. Ever."
And with that Mercy picked up her mug and headed out of the kitchen before Sam called back;
"Can't wait for tonight."
Mercy hadn't turned around but she was smiling widely. She too was rather excited, a factor which she would never admit to anyone.
Sam had noticed that Mercy had called him Sammy and truthfully he loved it. As soon as she had said it he was sure his stomach had flipped a feat that he was sure lead him to directly grin like a fool after her.
'Oh boy Sammy, you're breaking your own rule.'
Sam thought to himself as he continued watching after Mercedes who had now long gone.
"Bare hands?" Mercy repeated to herself after she seated herself at her desk.
"Seriously what the hell was that Mercy, he probably thinks I'm a freak. Great"
And with that sighing heavily at her own stupidity, Mercedes returned back to work, trying but failing miserably to put Sam out of her head.
It was true she had been eager for their...what was it? Work thing? No surely there was a better word out there for it? Research? No that sounded far too formal and kinda creepy Mercy thought. Then what was it?
Mercy hadn't seen Sam since that morning, and although she did kind of miss not seeing his smiling face, she was relieved. For some reason she was becoming increasingly nervous about the evening.
'It's just a movie, Mercy. In your own house. Stop being a complete loon.'
But it didn't matter how many times Mercy repeated that exact thought to herself she just grew more and more restless.
By the time she had gotten home-luckily Santana and April were out for the night. It meant Mercy could get ready in peace, without any prying eyes.
But this wasn't a date.
'It's not a date.'
But even as Mercedes kept telling herself that, she still frantically emptied her entire wardrobe out on the floor, searching for something that was casual but not sloppy. For someone who normally never fretted about outfits, she was stumped. And annoyingly she now kind of wished April was around to pick out something decent for her. For a busy body April sure knew how to dress-and that's what made her great at her job and more so Mercy was sure that if April had picked out her outfit tonight it would not go unnoticed by Sam.
Sam had gotten home early, which he was glad about it. He wanted to make an effort, he wasn't too sure why, but one thing his father had taught him and his brother well was that, a sharp dress sense always got you off to a good start, and the rest? Well that was charm, and boy did Sam have plenty of that.
By 6.45p.m Mercy had changed into and out of three outfits, until she finally gave up and decided on her casual spotted dress and a pair of black leggings. She had taken out her contact lenses as soon as she had gotten home, she had always preferred wearing her glasses. After all she was at home. And so casual made sense. She reapplied her makeup-but subtly and after a final comb through of her hair she let it rest on her shoulders.
And then just as if it had all been planned out, she heard the door.
Taking one final look in the mirror, Mercy went to answer it.
How did he look? If Mercy could answer that then she probably wouldn't have blushed as much as she did when she opened the door. Sam Evans was stood there, with a bottle of red in his right hand, while his left was hidden behind him, leaning casually against the door, he stood there in his jeans and a fitted black top that Mercedes decided should be illegal.
"Hey"
"Hi,"
There was silence in which Sam looked at Mercy, waiting for her to invite him in. Mercy must have been staring at him for a while because it was only when Sam cleared his throat that she realised he was still stood outside.
"Oh I'm sorry, please come in."
And with that she gestured for him to step inside, closing the door behind him and mouthing to herself.
'Get a grip Mercy.'
"Nice place, very homely, decorate yourself?"
Sam who had been taking in every detail of the apartment, couldn't help but smile, he'd never really thought about where Mercy lived. Why would he? But now that he was here, it all made perfect sense. There was a widespread painting across her wall of the New York skyline, Sam noticed it and instantly grinned to himself. This was another thing he had learnt about Mercy-she had great taste in art.
"Thank you, yes, although anything remotely hideous was my housemate's choice."
Mercy added honestly. There was no hiding the fact that Santana did have a quirky taste in ornaments. Most of which Mercy was glad were reserved for Santana's bedroom.
"Take a seat. So would you like anything to drink?"
Mercy politely offered, noting that Sam was still busy taking in her apartment. Thankfully both she and Santana had been neat freaks and although with April staying with her-who was the polar opposite-things hadn't been quite so tidy, Mercy had been grateful for having finished work early so that she could pick up after her sister.
"Yup, let's get this bottle of red cracking."
Mercy had no idea how Sam had worked it out, but her guilty pleasure had always been red wine. It also happened to be the only drink that tipped her over the edge.
'Keep a cap on it Mercy, don't want to frighten the poor boy off.'
Mercedes returned to the living room and noticed that Sam had already popped the DVD into the DVD player, and was settled on her couch.
Her instinct was to go and sit on the couch beside him but just as she approached it holding the glasses. She stopped and instead opted for the single seat on the right.
For the life of her, she had no idea why she did that. But worse of all she could tell that Sam had noticed her conscious change of mind.
"Oh I ordered Pizza, I hope that's ok?"
"That's great, can't watch movies without Pizza." Sam responded.
There was a silence, not the awkward kind but a general one, where both Mercy and Sam just looked at each other. It was more as though they were enjoying each other's company-albeit neither one of them was talking.
Then that instant two things happened simultaneously to distract both of them, Mercy heard the door, while Sam's phone rang.
"Pizza"
"My flatmate"
Mercy quickly exited the room to get the door, while Sam answered the call:
"What?...I'm busy...no...fine, bye."
Mercedes this time tried her best not to listen in and as she returned with the pizza she actually made that fact known to Sam;
"I have completely no idea what you just said on the phone then."
Before sitting beside him on the couch, she pushed one of the boxes towards Sam, and added:
"Shall we get this over with; I feel that this is a band-aid situation the quicker I get over with the easier it'll be."
Sam scoffed,
"Mercedes Jones I am about to change your life forever, you remember that."
And with that he pressed play.
So far things seemed ok. Or so Sam assumed. He had been sneaking glimpses of her for the past 45 minutes, passing off the ones she noticed as him offering her more wine.
'She must think I'm trying to get her drunk. Damn it Sammy, be slick.'
Mercy noticed that Sam kept constantly looking at her; he wasn't as slick as he had thought he was. Even when he tried to pretend he was just offering her more wine. She knew why he was doing it, but more than relaxing her, it made her more nervous, as though he was trying to read her mind. She had gathered this was his favourite movie of all, even though it didn't have Sandra Bullock in it, and the fact that she couldn't hide her expressions well, made her feel all too uncomfortable.
'What if I pull a face, will I offend him?'
As the time passed on, Sam noticed that Mercy was drawn further and further into the movie, he could see it on her face, she had smiled on several occasions at Duke. But more than that, she didn't seem that phased by Ryan Gosling, for some reason this felt good to Sam and suddenly he felt himself relax more.
Mercy had been watching intently-she had to admit it, it was pretty sweet. Ok so some parts did make her want to scrunch her nose, in fact she may have done exactly that on a couple of occasions but it was ok, she was sure by this time Sam was completely engrossed in the movie to have noticed. She couldn't help but watch him, it was as though he was watching the movie for the first time, his eyes were bright, his face eager as if it was Christmas morning.
Sam had been waiting for this scene. This was it, if she liked this Movie-then now was the time that her face would reveal such. And truthfully Sam was quietly confident at this point that she would.
As Allie got off the boat and began storming back, Sam turned towards Mercy and then saw it. She had moved. Mercy had straightened up a little and Sam was sure she was urging Noah on, to say something instead of fixing his damn boat.
As the scene played on, Sam felt happier and happier watching Mercy,
"Just tell her about the God damn letters."
As soon as she said it, Mercy clapped her mouth shut. Her eyes popping in horror.
Now she had done it; she expected some kind of cocky response from Sam; a satisfaction, have you, but she got none. This made her more curious. So she turned towards him and noticed that he was staring at her eyes fixated on her grinning widely.
"Damn straight. You tell that fool, Mercy."
"Shut up Sam."
Mercy added hitting him with the cushion that she had strategically placed between them, while Sam unexpectedly retaliated back with the one he had had in his laps.
"Ok Ok, Stop, stop."
"Really? You're not going to attack me as soon as I stop, Mercy?"
"I promise I won't"
Mercy was deadly seriously.
"Truce."
Sam placed the cushion down
"Truce"
He responded back while extending his hand which Mercy took and shook firmly.
"Now we have to watch that scene again."
Mercy didn't protest, admittedly she had enjoyed it and now that she knew what was coming she could observe it with a little less shock on her behalf.
The movie continued and Mercy rather begrudgingly had to admit she did like it, although for the love of God she couldn't quite see the hype behind Ryan Gosling that had both April sighing and Santana fanning herself. Yeah he was good-looking-but nothing more than an actor should be.
Then suddenly Sam paused the movie and turned to look straight a Mercy;
"Ok now I feel that I have to warn you."
Sam was deadly serious, this made Mercy frown. Was he ok, did he notice her staring at him? Was he annoyed by it? For some reason Mercy couldn't quite picture Sam annoyed, she always saw him smiling, or grinning or laughing it was just in his nature.
"Erm why?"
"I think you should have the tissue box ready and nearby."
Sam's expression remained serious.
"It's ok Sam, I promise no sudden dramatics from me, I've reached my quota for the year."
Mercy was deliberately being sarcastic, yes she had enjoyed the movie, but let's not get carried away, she wasn't going to cry about it. At the end of the day no matter how adorable the couple had been or how angsty their love, it was a movie. A movie.
But Sam remained still.
"You've got to be kidding me?"
Mercy couldn't believe how serious Sam was.
"Nope I'm not, trust me."
Mercy wasn't sure whether Sam was messing with her and although she didn't want to get up and move she felt obliged too, mainly to stop him from looking at her so intensely it made her feel funny. The same butterfly feelings were returning, as she again realised all the green from his eyes had gone.
"Ok, fine, fine, hang on"
Mercy returned with tissue box, waving it dramatically she placed it on the table in front of them.
While Sam settled back;
"You'll thank me. You will."
Mercy rolled her eyes, taking the remote from Sam's hand-feeling a bolt of electricity as she touched his hand-not wanting to explore that any further she quickly pressed play.
Sam had been right, but over the years Mercy had learnt very well how to guard her emotions. She may not have done as well in hiding her facial expressions but she did know never to cry in front of anyone.
Sam was taken aback, he had expected something. Not necessarily crying because he knew that wasn't in Mercy's nature, but he hadn't expected her to be completely silent and unmoved-or so as she had led on. He knew for a fact that the ending had moved her but then why was she being so guarded.
As the credits rolled Sam turned completely to face Mercedes;
"So?"
Mercy had turned to face him too now, tucking one leg under the other,
"So?"
"Well what did you think? Changed your life hasn't it?"
Mercy nodded smiling.
"Oh yes how will I ever cope ever again?"
Sam who had noted the sarcasm played along.
"I know, trust me you'll never be able to walk through the rain again, or look at an older couple and not smile."
"You look at older couples and smile? That's creepy."
Sam edged closer to her, and in an almost whisper spoke;
"But this is the real question."
Mercy edged closer, narrowing the gap between them, matching her own tone with his:
"What?"
"What did you really think of Ryan?"
Mercy who had not been expecting that, burst into a fit of giggles while Sam who had been massaging his ego felt another boost to his pride.
'Yeah definitely doesn't have a thing for him Sammy. Definitely.'
"How was your date?"
Sam had only just managed to walk into his apartment when he heard Puck.
"Wonderful."
Sam had still been thinking of Mercedes, apart from the fact that she made 'lounging at home' look sexy she had actually been very welcoming, and hanging out with her felt natural. It felt right. Sam was sure that he hadn't felt like this before. And truthfully he loved it.
Sammy was falling for Mercy.
Hard.
Yet somehow he could sense this was only the tip of the iceberg and more than that he wanted to explore this-whatever this was with Mercy-more.
" Hmph."
Puck was now leaning against the kitchen door drinking water watching Sam who was lost deep in thought, with that same idiotic look on his face from the night before.
"What's that Puck, did you say something?"
Sam had heard Puck make a sound but he had been too busy recalling the evening with Mercy-which had been no short of perfect to have registered what Puck said.
"Well at least you're not denying it was a date."
Puck added, heading back for his bedroom. But Sam again hadn't heard him as he remained preoccupied in thoughts about Mercy.
*I'd like to wish you guys Happy New Year in advance. I'll probably now update in the new year, unless I find time in between!*
